Behind the Veil
by Evil Beware We Have Waffles
Summary: I've built a wall, not to block anyone out, but to see who loves me enough to climb over it.  I do not own SWAC. CHANNY FIC.
1. Prologue

**Behind the Veil**

**a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

**She was mine. I remembered that clear enough. We were completely in love, and I thought nothing could ever tear us apart. I guess I was wrong. Completely wrong.**

_Chad Dylan Cooper sat in the seat of his limousine, holding __**her **__hand. __**Sonny **__**Munroe**__'s hand. __**The most perfect girlfriend in the world**__'s __hand. He loved her, he loved her more than anything in the world. Nothing, he thought, could ever change that, because they were together, and that's what mattered._

_He remembered sitting at home in his room, with the TV on, showing a commercial for the, "Newest arrival to _So Random!_ Sonny Munroe!"_

_He had thought she was adorable ... her smile, her hair, her eyes. He thought she was perfect, and he knew that she would be working next to him or years ... years. ... That brought a smile to his face._

_But she was a "Random" ... and that could never be._

_When Chad has saw her in the cafeteria ... he knew who she was. He fell for her, in there, right then ... to the sound of her laugh ... how she said his name._

_Then she turned ... she hated him, and suddenly they were enemies. So he had to act like he hated her too._

_Soon his favourite part of the day had turned into their little arguments._

"_**Good!"**_

"_**Good!"**_

"_**Fine!"**_

"_**Fine!"**_

_Slowly but surely ... he had made it into her heart ... maybe it was his charm, or his looks, but she assured him, it was neither of those. It was just him._

"_Did you have a good time, Sonny?" he asked, as he breathed in her scent._

"_Yeah, it was so much fun ... thanks for taking me Chad." she replied, as she lied her head down on his shoulder. It seemed she fit so perfectly there, like the crook of his neck was specifically made for her._

"_Anytime ... so, want to make plans for next week?"_

"_I'll call you about it later, I have to ... check my schedule to see if I have any rehearsals late next week."_

_The rest of the car ride was silent, just the two sitting the car._

_Now standing at the door to her apartment, Chad took her hand as he said: "See you tomorrow," he smiled, leaning in._

_Sonny breathed in sharply as she backed away a little, "Chad ... __**we need to talk**__."_

_Those four words in the same sentence never lead to anything good, he dropped her hands, and looks suspiciously at her._

"_**I'm leaving**__ ..." Sonny said._

"_Leaving to where?" Chad asked her, digging his hands into his pockets._

"_I-I don't know yet." Sonny whispered, her gaze dropping to the floor._

"_**When will you be back?**__"_ _Chad had asked._

"_That's the thing, Chad ... __**I'm not coming back**__." Sonny said, "I wanted to tell you ... that maybe we should ... **break up**."_

"_**Why?**__" Chad heard himself asking, "We've been going so well ... haven't we?"_

"_Yeah ... we have."_

"_Then, why Sonny, why?"_

"_Because ... I ... don't think I ..." her voice dropped down into a low whisper, "__**I don't think I love you.**__"_

_Chad blinked as he stared into nothing ... he didn't believe the words he was hearing ... he couldn't._

"_Chad ... Chad?"_

"_**Don't say anything to me**__." his voice grew into a growl._

_Tears started falling from her face, slowly ... slowly ... until they left her cheek, and fell ever more slowly to the ground._

"_Chad ... please don't be mad ..." Sonny sobbed._

"_No ... no I'm not mad." Chad said through clenched teeth, "Just ... a little furious maybe."_

"_Couldn't we still be friends?"_

_He wanted to say yes. He really did. But he couldn't ... not now._

_So he answered with a dull and harsh, "No." leaving the girl in tears, calling his name over and over again. _

"_**Chad! Chad, please! Please try to understand! Chad ... CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!**__"_

_But he didn't turn around. He walked down the hall, his hands clenched inside his pockets, palms sweating. His heart broken._

_He felt his face growing warmer; his eyes started to sting, but he blinked it off fast. He wasn't the type to cry over a stupid girl ... and he wasn't about to be._

_But __**Sonny **__wasn't a "stupid girl", she was __**Sonny **__... your __**Sonny **__... your __**Sonshine**__, your __**everything**__. And now she was __**gone, forever **__..._

_The next day, she was gone. When he went back to apologize, her apartment was empty. _

- - - -

**I wished so hard I could take back what I said to her, I loved her. And she flicked me away like one of those pieces of lint****on her sweater.**

"Tawni ... do you happen to ... uh ... know where Sonny went?" Chad asked, stepping into the dressing room.

"Yes. I do, but it's not like I'm going to tell you." Tawni snapped.

"_Tawni_ ..." Chad started.

"Don't 'Tawni' me, Chad Dylan Cooper! We trusted you! As the cast of_ So Random!_ we trusted you, and let you penetrate our inner core, because you promised that you would never hurt Sonny!"

"Hey, hey! Don't go all flipsy on me! Sonny's the one who dumped _me_!" Chad shouted, he was sick of this. All the newspapers were blaming him for the break up of the, "Most Beloved Couple" because they didn't believe that "Sweet-Innocent-Sonny Munroe" would ever do anything like this.

"She wanted to say friends, Chad! It's not like she didn't want you in her life anymore!" Tawni started, standing up from her chair and facing Chad, advancing towards him, "We were _right_! You are _scum, _we should have _never ever_, Let. _You. In!" she _screamed jabbing his chest at ever word she annunciated.

Chad hadn't said anything. He had stared at the blonde headed girl with sad eyes. Maybe she was hurting too, he didn't know. Sonny and Tawni ... they actually were friends ... maybe even best friends. He hadn't known. But they dealt with each other ... and they talked ... and if Tawni cared this much ... he had a feeling it wasn't just about him.

Tawni sighed walked back over to her mirror and calmly fixing her hair, she turned back to Chad after a while and stared him in the eye, "She's fine. She isn't telling me where she went, and I don't think she wants me to know. She said she needed some, 'down-time' I don't know what she means by then, and I don't know when she's coming back –"

"She isn't coming back." Chad whispered.

"What?"

"She told me ... she said, 'I'm not coming back.'"

"Okay then ... she's not coming back." Tawni finished.

"I'm sorry ... I-I ..."

"You don't have to apologize to me, Chad."

"I tried to find her ... to apologize ... but she left before I could." Chad insisted.

There was silence for a few minutes, as the two teens stood awkwardly.

"She said hi ..."

"Who?"

"Sonny ... in her email. She told me, to say hi to you, for her."

Chad smiled. She was still Sonny.

- - - -

**My heart was breaking ... shattered everywhere. No one could clean it up. It was impossible.**

Five months later, Chad had a system. He would get up, get ready, go to work, try to cope with people, go home, eat, then sleep. He did that everyday. People had noticed the difference.

"Dude, she's just a girl." a co-worker on the set of _Mackenzie Falls _had said.

_She's not just a girl. She's Sonny._

Slowly, _Mackenzie Falls _lost viewers, because of the difference in Chad's acting. His co-workers were quitting, and in a year, it was pulled off the air.

So Chad returned to his house, jobless, and over the years, his stardom fell. Soon he could actually go out in public, and people wouldn't chase after him. He could be free.

Years later, Chad decided to quit acting, to move away from everyone and start new. So he packed his bags, loaded his car and moved to a small town in Connecticut, named Scarlet Springs.

**She was mine. I remembered that clear enough. We were completely in love, and I thought nothing could ever tear us apart. I guess I was wrong. Completely wrong.**

**I wished so hard I could take back what I said to her, I loved her. And she flicked me away like one of those pieces of lint****on her sweater.**

**My heart was breaking ... shattered everywhere. No one could clean it up. It was impossible.**

* * *

End Note: Okaaaaaaaaaay. That's it, this is my VERY first SWAC fanfiction, so please be nice. I know the Sonny and Chad are OOC in this, but it is kinda a serious moment, and it IS kinda a serious story ... ish, the next chapter has some pretty funny stuff. ^_^ XD

So please read and review (well, you've already read it, so PLEASE just review it.) I might have the next chapter up soon, I'm not sure though, you might have a week wait, but that's not so bad.

BTW, please check out my friend's profile **HeCalledHerCass **she has her own SWAC story going on, only four chapters, but it's still really good! :) so that's

www. fanfiction. net/~ hecalledhercass (take out the spaces)

THANKS! ^_^  
Emma


	2. Chapter One: Summer August

**Behind the Veil**

**a fanfiction by Emma**

Chapter One

**Summer  
****August**

The wind blew softly at my hair, I pushed my hand threw it as I stepped out of my car. My new house was small, and cheap, I couldn't afford much now, since ... I "fell from the sky" as the newspapers said.

I took the key and pushed it through the key whole, stepping into the house I looked around. Boxes. All I saw were boxes. Great ... this was going to take awhile. Why did I have so much crap anyway? Ugh.

I decided I was too tired too tired to unpack anything today. So I put my bag down and walked out the front door and onto the sidewalk.

Scarlet Springs was a small, quiet town. That's why I had picked it. No one would care that I, Chad Dylan Cooper, fallen teen-heart-throb, had moved here. Though I was 26, and the kids who used to watch me were about 20 by now anyway, so they wouldn't care that much anyway. Though I still got surprised looks and gasps and whispers from some people on the streets.

My blonde haired had darkened over the years, and my blue eyes had lost that certain "sparkle" or "shimmer" but they were still blue. My hair was still that shaggy cut I've always had it.

I crossed the street to find a small building called "_Charlotte's_" I looked at it, it was a diner. There were people sitting at tables with cups of coffee, chatting away. Some people were even getting up and going behind the counter. A girl with red hair and big, black frame glasses taking a order as I walked in. I sat at the counter and waited until she came up to me.

"Hey, what can I get you?" the girl asked as she rounded the corner.

"Just come coffee please." I said.

The girl turned to me and the moment she laid eyes on my face, she dropped the coffee pot, her mouth hanging open. Everyone had turned to look at what had made the loud crash. I sat completely confused by her reaction to seeing me.

"Um ..." I said awkwardly, "Hi ..."

She stood there for a second, her mouth hanging open before she cleared her throat and then spoke, "Oh, um ... hi. Sorry, I just ... was surprised to ... see _you_."

"Clearly." I mumbled.

"I was ... just a huge fan of _Mackenzie Falls _growing up." she explained, "I'll just ... uh ... clean this up, and then get you your coffee." the girl then ran into the back room.

I twiddled my fingers as the girl walked and quickly bent down to clean up the mess. Soon she was pouring me my coffee.

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine."

"I'm Charlotte by the way, Charlotte Adams." she said, holding out her hand.

I now got a better look at her face, she wore thick, black framed glasses, which didn't - surprisingly - look _that _bad. She had red hair, but her eyebrows were brown, which told me that she dyed her hair, she had bangs, which were swept off to one side. She had brown eyes, that seemed large behind her glasses. She wore a plaid shirt that she had tucked into her jeans messily. She was wearing a baseball cap backwards, yet she was still quite attractive ... hot maybe. But that's just my old teenage-self coming out again. Though I hadn't been quite as attracted to anyone for almost eight years. Eight years ago ... I had ... Sonny had. I shook that thought out of my head.

"Charlotte ..." I murmured, "... I'm guessing you own this diner then?"

"Yep, this place is all mine." she said dreamily, looking around the small little diner.

"Well, it's nice. How long have you had it?" I asked, taking a small sip from my coffee.

"Eh, about six years now. Got it up and running when I was twenty." Charlotte said.

"You realize you just told me how old you were." I said with a smirk.

"Um, yeah. So? I don't care if people know how old I am," Charlotte said, giving me a confused look, she then stared up at her costumers, "Hey guys! I'm TWENTY SIX YEARS OLD!"

I suspected all the costumers to stare at her in shock, or confusion, but instead they just laughed and replied with things like, "Yeah, Charlotte!" "Good on ya!" "You're a babe!" and "WHOOOOOOO!!"

Charlotte looked down at me and laughed, "You're confused." she stated.

I cleared my throat, "Not at all." I lied.

"Yeah ... _suure _you're not." Charlotte said sarcastically as she left passed me to give a few people their orders and re-fill coffee mugs.

She soon returned to my side, re-filling my own coffee cup.

"So, now it's your turn." she said, leaning against the back of the wall.

"My turn for _what_?"

"For you to tell me your story," Charlotte said rolling her eyes, " What is Chad Dylan Cooper, 'the greatest actor of our generation', Mr. Heart-Throb himself doing here, in a little old town called 'Scarlet Springs', population '3, 870'"

Wow ... this girl can _really _talk.

"Okay, one: I _used _to be 'the greatest actor of our generation', two: no one _ever _called me 'Mr. Heart-Throb' and _three_: I'm not going to say how _creepy _it is that you memorized the population of the town."

Charlotte laughed, "Whatever, Cooper." she said with a smug look.

"'Cooper'? You're going to call me 'Cooper' now?" I asked, with a smirk of my own.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Charlotte said, grabbing a cloth and wiping the counter, "But you still haven't answered my question."

I sighed, "Hollywood just wasn't suiting me too well anymore," I said, "Why did you want to know that anyway?"

"You're a Hollywood sensation–"

"–_Used _to be a Hollywood sensation." I corrected her.

"You _used _to be a Hollywood sensation, and now you just show up here in my small diner. Scarlet Springs is in the middle of nowhere, I'm just surprised you chose _here _of all places."

"Well, I did. How did you end up here."

"I ... moved here when I was eighteen." Charlotte said, her gaze dropping back to the counter as she started wiping it down again.

I looked at her suspiciously, but shook that feeling off quickly. I finished my coffee in silence; I took out my wallet, but Charlotte stopped me quickly.

"No, no! First time customers are always on the house." she said, hovering her hand over mine, yet it wasn't touching, like she was afraid of touching my hand.

I smiled kindly at her, "No, it's fine. It's just two cups of coffee, not that expensive."

"Exactly, c'mon, I do this for all my first time costumers. Don't be the first to ruin my tradition." she said, starting to pout.

I looked at her face and it suddenly reminded me of something ...

***************

"_Please Chad!" Sonny had cried in my face, gripping my hands tightly, "Please, I really, really want to go! And Tawni has already seen it with Nico! Grady and Zora aren't interested! You're the only one left!"_

"_No, Sonny. I _really _don't want to go see _The First Kiss _it's a chick flick! It'll be really gross!" I had argued with her._

"_I went to go see _Zombieland _with you!"_

"_Oh yeaah, that was great wasn't it?" I laughed. Now I was just doing this to bug her._

"_No, it was gross! I hated it, remember? Please Chad, please, please, PLEASE?!" then she started to pout. She pushed her bottom lip out and gave me these adorably cute eyes. And I just couldn't say no._

"_Fine. Fine. I'll go."_

***************

And as I stared at Charlotte at that moment, it struck me, she looked like ... like Sonny in some ways.

I couldn't say no to that face.

"Fine. It's on the house." I gave in.

"Good. Now see ya, Cooper ... and come again." Charlotte said, taking the coffee mug from the counter.

"See ya ... Adams." I said to her as I walked out the door.

* * *

_There ... that's the last box. _I thought as I put the last of my clothes into my small dresser.

I stared around my room. It was home-y, home-y enough for me. The walls were a cream-ish type, they were very bare though. With little holes were nails used to be, when the other family had lived in here.

I stared at myself in the mirror. Dark sleep lines were under my eyes. I hardly got any sleep anymore. Dreams tormented meall night long, it sometimes made me afraid to go to sleep. I would see _her _face. _Sonny's _face. Her screaming at me, _"PLEASE, CHAD, PLEASE!" _Sometimes they were happy dreams ... somewhat. Sometimes it was a dream of one of our dates, or our first kiss. Though, those ones tormented me too. So basically ... nothing in my life was actually "happy" now.

_Don't think about her Cooper ... _I thought to myself.

The very scary fact was, I was still infatuated with Sonny. Yep. Not going to lie about that. Though it was sad, that I was still in love with a girl I haven't spoken to, seen, or even heard of for almost a full decade. 8 years exactly.

Sonny Munroe had "disappeared" in some ways. A couple months after she moved to ... wherever she moved to, there were little articles about her in _Tween Magazine_, about where she went, and _why _she left.

Some blamed me for her departure. Which just cut me deeper. I hated it, everyone blamed me for everything. Maybe that was another reason I dropped down, people started to hate me. I knew it was because of my depression.

I wonder if Sonny knew that _So Random! _wasn't on anymore? It got canceled three years ago. Now they were all doing their separate things ... well, except for Grady and Nico, they were together. I knew what Tawni was doing, or I had a feeling at least. She was doing a movie, or modeling for some professional line, it's just the thing that Tawni would do. I wonder if Sonny was still in touch with her? Zora ... now I had no idea was Zora was doing ... probably something insane, that no one would have ever thought of before.

Tawni used to give me updates on Sonny, whenever she got a email. They always used to say, _Say hi to Chad for me. _but they stopped saying that when I turned 20. It seemed like from there she cut all contact with me there. Truthfully I didn't like how she used to say "hi" to me, it made forgetting her all that harder. Though who could forget Sonny?

I rubbed my temples and groaned, I changed my attention to the clock, almost six-thirty. I was hungry, but too lazy to cook anything.

_Now see ya, Cooper ... and come again._

Charlotte ... why not go to Charlotte's again? She said I could, it's not like she'd kick me out of her own diner.

I pulled on my shoes and walked out my front door, in no time I was walking into the diner again, to have Charlotte smiling broadly at me.

"Hey."

"Hiya." I smiled sitting down at a table.

"What can I get you?"

* * *

Author's End Notes: Okay, there it is, the next chapter. I thought since I updated both of my other fanfictions, I could update this one too. :)

I just want to say THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! :) Just the first chapter and already it had about 11 reviews! So, thank you so much!

One more thing, on my profile there's a part called **Fanfiction Covers **there's one for Behind the Veil that HeCalledHerCass made, (THANK YYOOOOU!) HeCalledHerCass is really awesome, so check out her profile while you're on fanfiction!

Thanks again,  
Emma


	3. Chapter Two: Summer Mid August

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Two  
**Summer  
****Mid-August**

* * *

"You drink _way _too much coffee." I mused, staring Charlotte in the face as she sipped her fifth cup of coffee that morning, "It's not good for you."

"Look who's talking. You're drinking it too." Charlotte shot back at me.

"Yeah, but this is my _first cup, _you're on your fifth." I smirked.

Charlotte scoffed, "Whatever. It keeps me awake."

"Soon it'll make you dead." I mumble under my breath.

Charlotte slugged me hard in the arm, "Shut it, Cooper. You're raining on my parade."

I laugh as I take another sip of my own coffee, her glare like little pricks on my skin. I was attracted to it so much.

Sometimes I had the urge to kiss Charlotte, I don't know why. I just did. Somehow, I felt like I've known Charlotte for years, yet I just met her half a month ago. We just got along so well, it was creepy.

"Hey Charlotte, stop making googly-eyes at Chad and come take my order!" laughed a guy named Dave from across the diner.

"What, Dave? You're not _jealous _are you?" Charlotte joking, turning her gaze to Dave, her sat there and laughed.

"_Totally_!" he said sarcastically, "Now coffee!"

"Alright, Mr. _Pushy_!" Charlotte mumbled under her breath, walking over to the man on the other side of the room.

After re-filling coffee and taking people's orders, Charlotte came back over to me and sat down.

"So, found a job yet?" she asked.

I sighed, running my hair through my hair, "No. I can't find anything to do ... I've never had a _real _job, as everyone knows." I said, I then got a brilliant idea, "Hey _Charlotte_ ..."

"No." she stated.

"Oh, c'mon why not?" I whined.

"Because I don't need any help, nor do I _want _any. I have Fred in the back cooking everything, and me serving._ Just me_."

I groaned, slamming my forehead down on the table.

"So what can I get for you?" Charlotte asked.

"A _job_!"

"Sorry, we don't serve 'jobs' here."

"Then I'll have eggs."

"Sunny-side-up or scrambled?"

I turned my head to stare blankly at Charlotte.

She laughed, "Sunny-side-up, right. I shouldn't of even asked, huh?"

"Nope."

Charlotte smiled as she walked off to had the order to Fred, in the back.

It was true. I loved sunny-side-up eggs. Do you know why? I'll give you one hint - _sunny _side up. _Sonny_-side-up. Get it now?

I stared out of the window, seeing a few town faces I knew.

Kreg ... god he was such a weirdo. I don't even think he has a last name ... that I know of at least. He's just kinda that cool weirdo hanging around town. Yet he was a pretty good friend.

Ms. Maria ... I don't know what the "Ms" is about, it's just what people call her, that or Maria. She teaches dance to many little kids here in the town. She's kinda crazy, but she's great ... she knows everything going around in town.

That's it! Ms. Maria would know if there was a job for me! I would go there after my breakfast.

* * *

I ran up to Ms. Maria's door, she was standing there saying something weird to the little girls in the studio.

"Hey, Ms. Maria, I have a question for you." I said.

"Oh, Chad ... you do, do you?" she asked flirtatiously.

I smirked as I rolled my eyes, "I was needing a job, do you know if anyone's looking?"

Ms. Maria looked disappointed for a slight second, but that emotion left almost instantly, "Well ... Ashley is looking."

Ashley George? Aw, man ... he was a little strange. **(AN: Ashley IS a girls name, yes, but it is also a boys** **name. And in this story Ashley George is a BOY. (: Thank you.)**

"In his market?" I asked, stuffing my hands in my pockets.

"Yes, I believe he wants a check out boy, something along those lines yes ... – Tara, keep your hands in your _own nose_, sweety!"

I smiled, "Thanks, Maria."

"Oh _anytime _darling, bye-bye."

"Bye."

I walked off to George's Market ... this was going to be intersting.

* * *

"You WHAT?!"

I stared blankly at Charlotte, "I-I got a job, at George's Market." I repeated.

"WHY?!"

"Because I _needed a job_," I said, rolling my eyes, "I don't understand why you're freaking out about this. You're the one who said I wasn't allowed to work here."

"Yes, but why _there _of all places? Ashley and I are _enimies_, well ... frenimies ... ish, but still!" Charlotte argued with me, she looked slightly pissed.

"It's a job, Charlotte. I need one, it was there. I'll quit if I find a better one, okay? Good."

"GOOD!"

"Fine."

"FINE!"

I stared to nothing for minute ... the only thing that flashed through my mind was _Sonny _... I suddenly felt sick.

I sighed, "I'm ... not that hungry anymore. See you tomorrow."

I left before I even heard a word she was saying.

* * *

AN: Oh how I love days where I'm sort of sick, but then sort of not. I get to write my fanfictions.

So I hoped you liked this chapter, and just one more thing. I think I've found the song for this story, it's by a band name "Tokio Hotel" and it's there one song "World Behind my Wall" here's the link: http:// www. youtube. com/watch?v = FGSRr 2ON1d I&feat ure=r elated (don't forget to take out the spaces)

Read,  
Review,  
Subscribe,  
EMMA


	4. Chapter Three: Summer Fall September

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

Chapter Three

**Summer/Fall  
****September**

I stood at the counter grabbing things Kreg slid down to me and put them into a paper bag.

This job was crap.

For hours on end I stood here, at this counter and put things in bags, _or _dragging food over a little check out thingy and sliding it down to _put _it into the bag.

Oh joy.

"You're doing it wrong." Kreg said to me, sliding me a pack of sandwich-ham.

"What?" I asked, staring at him in disbelief.

"You're doing it wrong." he repeated, in the same dead-pan voice he always had.

"Doing _what _wrong, Kreg?" I asked blankly,

"You're putting the products in the bag wrong, _Chad_. That's what you're doing wrong."

You've _got _to me kidding me.

"_Never _put bread in first, it's the rule, whatever you put on top of it will just smush the bread, making it hardly editable."

I rolled my eyes at this boy's insane behavior. Only _Kreg _would fuss of how to put things in a _grocery bag_.

"You have to put cans, and other heavy objects in first. Then - if there's eggs, put them in next - _then _you put the soft things like bread, muffins, and fruits on top. It's just the simpler way to do it."

"Kreg ... would _you _perhaps like to be putting the items in the bags?" I asked.

"Well if you _insist_." Kreg scoffed, pushing me out of the way, starting to unload all of the items I had placed into the bag.

* * *

I grumbled into Charlotte's diner and sat down at a table. Charlotte came over to me, her big framed glasses shining, and her jeans and hoodie, she was always insanely casual.

"Bad day at work?" she asked, her eyes popping out at me.

I sighed, "Yep."

"Now who told you that living there, would be hell?" Charlotte asked, sitting down across from me.

"You." I mumbled.

"Yes, that's right ... me." Charlotte giggled, "I was right." she said in a sing-song voice.

"Psh, no you _weren't_! Because I was completely fine today actually ... it was only Kreg, but I can get used to Kreg ... he's just a little strange."

Charlotte raised her brown eyebrow at me, "You're crazy." she commented.

I flashed her my famous smirk.

"Anyway ... I have a question for you." Charlotte said.

"Shoot."

"Every year, here in Scarlet Springs, we have a Summer Blaze. And I want you to come with me." Charlotte said, her head high.

"Like a date?" I questioned.

"HA! No." Charlotte said with a loud laugh, "More like, a friend taking a friend outside. Because that friend only steps out of his house to eat and go to work."

"Not true!" I protested.

"_Fine_, you go out to get groceries, but other than that I've never seen you anywhere." Charlotte said.

I let out a breath ... maybe I didn't _like _going out a lot.

"So, you're coming. Okay?" Charlotte concluded.

I smirked, "Okay. Fine I'm going to go."

"Good."

My smirk dropped. I didn't want to do that again.

"I-I mean ... okay." Charlotte said fast, getting up from my table.

* * *

"_Couldn't we still be friends?" she said, staring at me hard. Hope in her eyes. _

_But I couldn't say yes. Not now ... I was too broken._

"_No." I growled, and I turned walking away._

"_**Chad! Chad, please! Please try to understand! Chad ... CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!**__"_

_Though I had left, my vision stayed where Sonny was, tears falling from her eyes, fast. Like rain, cracks of lightening crashing over her, as she still called out to me. Her voice finally dying out, until she herself faded away. The lightening stayed._

_**BOOM BOOM BOOM**_

"_**COOPER OPEN UP!"**_

I bolted upwards from my couch to a banging on my front door, I rubbed my eyes and got up off the couch, to open my door. There was Charlotte ... in a dress ... I never thought I'd see _Charlotte _in a dress. It was blue ... a very light blue, but it was still blue ... a very pretty blue. A blue I remember looked very good on ... on Sonny. And her ... her hair ... it was ... curled ... and she didn't have her glasses on.

"Y-you're glasses ..." I started pointing at her face.

"It's not nice to point, Cooper ... and you know ... there's a little thing called _contacts_. I use them once in a while."

I stared at her face ... her eyes ... they-they were brown. I knew they were brown before but ... not that brown ... not that ... beautiful brown. I hated that brown. That was the brown of Sonny. I thought no one else in the world had eyes _that brown_.

"Do-do you happen to have your glasses?" I asked shakily.

"Um, at my _house _yes." Charlotte said, staring at me confused.

"Oh ... okay, never mind then." I said, swallowing hard, "You ... you're wearing a dress."

"Yeah, I'm a girl. We tend to _like _to look pretty sometimes." Charlotte said, crossing her arms, and smirking, "Now stop staring, we have to go. The Summer Blaze is going to start soon."

Stop staring?! How could I _stop _staring?!

"C'mon, Chad." Charlotte said, reaching out and trying to take hold of my hand, but I flinched away before she even could make contact.

"Are ... are you okay?" Charlotte questioned.

I blinked and stared at the ground, "Yeah ... I'm fine. L-let's go." I finished, pushing past her and out the door.

We spent hours at the Summer Blaze, eating cotton candy, talking about work, and things. Yet I didn't even look at her once, I couldn't. It was ... to painful ... in a way, I guess.

Charlotte tried to get me to look at her a few times while she was talking, she tried to put her hand on my shoulder, but I flinched away causing her to ask, "Are you okay?" and he to answer, "Yeah. 'Course."

She was walking next to me now, telling me a strange story about when Kreg thought it'd be a good idea to get a cat. Or something like that ... I had trouble paying attention.

"So finally, he had to sleep outside until the Animal Rescue Crew could get rid of the terrifying thing. But that even took a few–"

I snapped there and then, "Charlotte, go get your glasses! Change into jeans and t-shirt ... now ... PLEASE!"

Charlotte stared at me confused, and a few people around us heard my random outburst.

"What? Chad, what's your problem today?" Charlotte snapped at me, stepping close to me. To close. I had to step back.

"Y-you ..." I stuttered, "You look like her ..." I whispered.

"Like who?" Charlotte asked me, clearly confused.

I bit my bottom lip. Could I make myself say it? Could I? I had to ... I had to tell her ... something in me said, "You have to ... you just have to."

"Like ... S-Sonny Munr-roe." I whispered.

Charlotte sucked in a large breath and stepped back from me.

"Y-you mean your girlfriend from nine years ago?"

"Eight years ago." I corrected her in a whisper.

"_Eight years ago_. But still ... Chad ... that was ... that was _eight years ago_, aren't you over it? Y-you were the one who dumped her."

"No ..." I growled, "She was the one who ... who ... broke up with ... me."

"Oh ..." Charlotte whispered, "I still don't understand ... _eight years ago_, Chad. Eight. What's the problem?"

My lip trembled slightly, but I bit it harder to stop myself, "J-just because she b-broke up with me ... eight years ago ... doesn't mean I-I stopped _loving her_."

"Chad ..." Charlotte whispered.

"No ... don't ..."

"This is why you're always upset, isn't it?" Charlotte snapped.

"Charlotte, don't start ... pl–"

"No ... _that's _why you don't come out of your house .... EVER. Because you're ... depressed–"

"I'm _not _depressed."

"Really, Chad, _really_?"

I flinched.

"Because, I think that being hung over a girl for eight years ... a girl you haven't seen for eight years!" Charlotte yelled.

"How do you know I haven't seen her?" I asked.

Charlotte stopped, "It-it was just a guess."

"A pretty good guess." I said, staring at her confused.

"No ... no we're not changing this on me!" Charlotte snapped, "You need to get over it! Because she's not here! She's not _here _Chad! You're n-not near h-her! And you seriously need toget some help, or something!"

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS!" I yelled at her, causing Charlotte to step back, as I unleashed eight years of rage, "I'M NOT GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS! THIS IS _NONE _OF YOUR BUSINESS! SO JUST SCREW OFF, AND SHUT UP!"

"GO TO HELL!" Charlotte yelled at me.

"BACK AT YA!"

We then stormed off in opposite directions of the town.


	5. Chapter Four: Fall Ending October

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

**::: :: :::**  
AN: This is more of a filler chapter before the next couple of chapters. So it's sorta short, but I hope you like it anyway :)  
**::: :: ::: **

Chapter Four

**Fall  
****Ending October**

Let's just say ... I can't cook.

I burnt my Kraft Dinner, my cereal tastes like complete crap. – And it's cereal! The most easiest thing in the world to make! – that's why I always used to go to Charlotte's for _every_ meal, because I needed something to eat, and I could afford it.

It's been almost a month and I haven't talked to Charlotte. Once.

Was I mad? Yep. No doubt for that.

Has she tried to talk to me? Yep. Well ... once ... or twice.

Did I ignore her? Yep. That's one of my specialties "Ignore..ism"

Was I starving? YES! I needed a cheeseburger!

All the other diner's in this small town _suck_! There's this Chinese place I could go to. But it doesn't actually serve Chinese food, they got bored of that, but didn't want to change the name or napkins. Too much money apparently.

The few times Charlotte talked to me I basically tried to ignore her ...

LINE

"_Chad!" she had cried running after me down the street, "Chad you can't ignore me! We have to talk about this!"_

"_NO!" I had yelled back to her, starting to run._

"_You can't run from me forever!"_

"_YES I CAN!"_

_LINE_

The last time she talked to me really made me think about things.

_I was working in the market and all of a sudden she's just there, standing in front of me, glaring at me._

"_You can't ignore me." she says._

_I say nothing to her, but in my head I'm saying, _Then what am I doing now?

"_You have to talk about this." she finally whispers._

"_I don't want to talk about this! I'm never going to want to talk about this, I can't look at you, I can't see you because whenever I do all I see is _her_! And I don't want to be seeing her everyday!" I finally snap in a whisper._

_She stares at me for a second, before turning away silently._

That was the last time I spoke to her.

LINE

Maybe I was giving her a hard time ... maybe I was being a jerk. But I had a good reason ... didn't I?

I didn't want to see Sonny's face everyday, because it hurt ... it just hurt too much to see that.

Yet ... I was lonely ... and I ... I guess I was _depressed _in some ways. And when I was with Charlotte ... I felt ... needed, like she wasn't just going to run away.

I suddenly felt guilty ...

LINE

I slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside, whoever she was talking to turned to look at me, then automatically moved away. Charlottes stared at me wide eyed. Then she looked at me with confusion, then she was annoyed.

Mood swings.

"Charlotte I ..." I started to say walking close to her, then I noticed about everyone in the diner was leaning on their chairs trying to here, "Oh god dammit, don't any of you have a life?!" I snapped at them.

They immediately either turned away or got up and left.

I turned back to Charlotte and sat at the stools, "So ..." I said casually, then catching her skeptical eye I spoke, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Why are you sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry." Charlotte said, grabbing me a cup of coffee.

"No ... I was the one who flipped–"

"You had all the right too."

"No I didn't Charlotte."

"Yes, you did. I shouldn't have brought _her _up, I should've just dropped it. You were right, i-it's none of my business what you do with your life. Though can I give you one suggestion?"

"It depends, do I _have _to do it?" I asked.

"No, that's what _suggestion _means, stupid." Charlotte shot me a "Wooow" kind of look.

"Meh."

"Get over her."

I stared down at my coffee.

"It's hard." I finally whispered.

"Chad, I don't know why I look like S-Sonny, I've n-never noticed it before, but I do, and you've apparently noticed. But this is a small town, and avoiding people is almost impossible, and I'm going to not wear my glasses sometimes, and I'm going to want to get 'dolled up' sometimes, and that's something you're going to have to live with."

"It was just a shock for me. That's all." I said, "I wasn't expecting you to show up at my door like that."

"Another reason why this is all my fault."

"It's _not _your fault, Charlotte." I groaned, "Let's just ... move on, forget it."

"Okay." Charlotte nodded, "But ..."

"_Charlotte _..." I warned her.

"Just hear me out! – Haven't you ever wanted to talk to someone about it?"

"No ... never. I just ... can't. ... It hurts too much." I whispered.

Charlotte exhaled slowly, "Okay. Do you want something to eat."

"_Please_!" I begged.

"Not a big cooker, huh?"

"Nope."

"Did your cereal taste like crap?"

I smirked, "Ha, yeah."

* * *

Hope you liked it. :D

There are pictures of Charlotte on my profile ;)


	6. Chapter Five:Fall October Halloween

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

Chapter Five

**Halloween**

I remember as a kid, I always liked Halloween. I liked dressing up and going out during the night, and getting lots of candy to rot my teeth with, just so I could piss off my dentist.

Of course, that was before I went into show business, became a Teen-Heart-Sensation, fell in love with a girl, who ended breaking my heart, and I haven't seen since.

Don't I just make you feel all happy inside? (Please note my sarcasm)

Scarlet Springs apparently liked any sort of event that happens during the year. They like huge parties, and large crowds.

It's hard to want to be alone in this town, because no one actually _leaves _you alone. Woo?

Now ... now what do I think of Halloween? I think it is a waste of my time. Though will I admit that to other people? No. Probably not, because the people of Scarlet Springs would decapitate me if I told them I thought this holiday should die in a hole.

Truthfully, all holidays should go die in a hole. All the happy ones that is.

So here I was, lying on my couch with my TV on, I _would _be sleeping, but I didn't really want another dream of Sonny filling my head today.

A knock on my door forced me up off my couch, I opened it.

"Trick or treat." Charlotte said with a smile.

I groaned, as I turned to walk away.

"C'mon, Chad. There's a costume party down the road, let's find you a costume and you can come with me." Charlotte said, "Please?"

Costume party? Charlotte was wearing a costume. It was one of those skimpy little maid outfits with the tights and everything. She looked ... like ... a total slut. Her hair was curled, but put up into a bun, with a few loose curls hanging by her face, she wasn't wearing her glasses. I ignored that part.

"What are you even dressed up as?" I questioned her.

"A slutty maid." she said matter-of-factly, "What do you think of it?"

"I think you look like a complete slut." I said, "Now all you have to do is act like one."

"Good ..." she whispered flirtatiously looking up at me, she walked closer to me, wrapping her one arm around my neck and pressing herself against me. Her face was so close to mind I could feel her warm breath.

"Charlotte ... don't." I whispered, shutting my eyes tight.

She instantly knew what I was talking about and backed off from me, holding my arm.

"I'm sorry ... I didn't think ... I shouldn't of ... I'm sorry."

"No ... it's fine ... you don't have to apologize." I told her, avoiding her face.

"Chad ..." she said quietly, "I brought my glasses, do you need me to wear them?"

I nodded.

She went to the bathroom and took out her contacts and putting on her glasses.

"Now ... there's a costume party?" I asked her.

"Y-yeah ... do you want to come with me?"

"I guess, but I don't have a costume." I mumbled.

"Well, let's go see what's in your closet." she said walking into my room.

Charlotte opened my closet and started to rummage around, looking at every shirt that was hanging up, to every pair of pants that I owned.

Finally she brought out a old tux that I used to wear to the Grammy's or the Oscars.

"Here, does this still fit you?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I think so. But I'm not sure, I haven't worn it in like two ... three years."

"I'm sure you haven't grown since you were 22 or 23, Chad." she said, "There, you can be a bulter, I'll be a maid and we can go in a pair."

I nodded grabbing the tux to change in my bathroom.

After I came out Charlotte was smiling.

"Okay, let's go,"

I nodded and grabbed my coat making my way out the door.

The party was two blocks down, it was a bunch of college boys throwing a "annual" Halloween party. There were people dancing, making out in the corner. I started to wonder why I came ... oh right. I didn't want my head full of Sonny anymore.

"Why do you want to come here anyway?" I asked Charlotte over the loud music.

"I know the guy who does this every year, it's just a favor I do for him. I feed him, he let's me come to his parties."

"Ah ..."

I sat down at the bar table, and turned around. Everyone was dancing, and suddenly the song changed. It was slow, with still a pop-like beat to it.

"Chad, do you want to dance?" Charlotte asked holding out her hand.

I stared at her hand, and my gaze drifted up to her face.

"I-I guess ... for a little bit." I said.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the dance floor, I put my hand a little above her waist, and grabbed her other hand.

Traditional. That was best.

I was surprised that she knew the steps to a traditional slow dance, but I didn't care, as long as I wasn't actually ... slow dancing.

The song ended and I dropped her hand, sending her a small smile.

"That was fun." I said.

"Yeah, it was."

"Want to get a drink?" I asked, pointing back to the small bar in the corner.

"Sure." she said walking over to the bar with me.

I sat back down at the bar and asked for a beer, when I turned around there was some guy talking to Charlotte.

"Wanna dance, Char?" he asked.

"One sec, I'll go talk to Chad first." she said back to him, turning around to me, "Chad, do you mind if I ...?"

"Go ahead," I told her, "Have fun ..." _for the both of us._

"'Kay, I'll be back in a flash." she said walking off to the dance floor.

I took another sip of my beer I was holding in my hand, I hadn't had a drink in a while ... and I couldn't really remember why.

"_**Chad ... CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

Her voice rang in my head, desperate to get it out I took a gulp from my beer.

"_**Because ... I ... don't think I ... I don't think I love you."**_

Another gulp.

"_**Did you have a good time, Sonny?"**_

"_**Yeah, it was so much fun ... thanks for taking me Chad." **_

Chug, chug, chug!

"_**I love you Chad ..." **_

The next thing I knew the world was spinning around me, I stumbled up from the bar, I couldn't really walk straight but I didn't know.

I found a girl in a maid's outfit, she was talking to someone, I grabbed her shoulder, and a smile broke over my face.

"Heeey ... Sonn-ay! Long time no see, ay? How ya bin?" I asked, my voice slurring over.

"Chad, I-I'm not–"

"I-I havint bin dat good ... actuall-ay I havint bin good aht all ... Have you seen Charlott? I cam here wif her ... she luks ... jus like you ... haha ... that's fun-ay. You luk like Charlott and Charlott luks like you ... hahaha"

I brought her close to me, and breathed her in. Just the same. She smelt just the same.

"I really, really missed you ..." I murmured to her face.

Then I brought her face to mine.

The kiss was everything I've been missing, and more. I pulled her close to me, hoping, begging this wasn't a dream.

Then I realized it wasn't.

I stumbled back in a daze with Charlotte looking at me in complete shock. I couldn't of ... I didn't did? Oh crap ... oh ... oh shit.

"Chad ..." she said calmly.

I just ... _kissed_ Charlotte ... _I _just _kissed Charlotte_. I hadn't kissed anyone since Sonny ... yet I _kissed Charlotte_. I couldn't take this, no ... no I just ... just couldn't.

I turned and I ran, I ran as hard as I could, as fast as I could. It was raining, and the rain started to get me all wet. I didn't care.

I turned down an alley-way and dropped down to the ground, burring my face into my knees. A sob formed from my chest, but I held it in.

_No, you're not going to cry._I told myself.

"Chad!" a desperate voice called out through the darkness, "Chad! There you are!"

I didn't dare to look up. I didn't want to look her in the face right now.

"Chad, have you been here this whole time?" she asked.

I nodded, my arms still in my knees.

"C'mon, let's get you up."

"I can get up myself!" I yelled in panic.

I wouldn't let her touch me, she wasn't allowed to touch me anymore. I wouldn't touch her, she wouldn't touch me.

"Chad, you did this ... not me ... you have no right to me mad."

"I'm not mad!" I cried, "I just ... I just CAN'T be near you right now!"

"Chad, you need to talk about this!" Charlotte cried after, grabbing my arm and forcing me to look at her face.

I panicked and shoved her away, causing her to stumble backwards in complete shock.

"I-I'm sorry ..." I whispered, but I ran. I ran faster than before, though my clothes were waterlogged and it was hard to run, I ran. I ran into my house and slammed the door behind me, quickly locking, and sinking down to the floor.

The tears formed in my eyes, and I didn't care now. So I let them fall, I let them fall from the eyes to my cheek to the floor, to my clothes, I let them fall wherever they pleased. I let the sobs break from my chest, and I let my breathing stagger. I was alone ... I was alone in my small world.

My depressing world.

My Sonny-less world.

* * *

Yes Chad cried. So? Men can cry. :) it just shows how MANLY they are.

Hey, don't blame me! I'm just trying to lighten the mood after this EXTREMELY depressing chapter in my mind.

Yeah ... so please review, there's pictures of Charlotte on my profile ;)

Now, I know I have some American-y type people reading this, if you guys could tell me when YOUR Thanksgiving is, that'd be grreat! :)

And thanks to HeCalledHerCass for helping me with the idea for this chater. :D

Now see below  
this text?  
That shiney thing?  
That's the review button.  
Isn't it wonderful?  
And shiney?  
And AMAZING?  
Yes.  
It is.  
Now click it.  
Review it.  
SEND IT!


	7. Chapter Six: Fall Beginning November

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

**AN: Hey guys, I just want to let you know I found a quote that I think fits Chad perfectly for this story! I might be changing this to the summary to draw more people in, so here it is:**

_**I've built a wall, not to block anyone out, but to see who loves me enough to climb over it**_

**I'm not exactly sure if it DOES fit, but tell me your thoughts about it in your review please! :) **

* * *

Chapter Six

**Fall  
****Beginning November**

I don't understand girls.

Aren't _I _the one who sound be saying nothing? Aren't _I _the one who should be ignoring eye contact?

Apparently not_. _Apparently _Charlotte _is the one who's doing that.

I guess I can understand ... I was the one who ... well .... you know.

Maybe that's my problem, I _can't _say it to myself! Or even think it! I should be able to say "I ..." you know "Charlotte!" but I can't! I'm incapable! I suck.

Why does she have to look like ... well ... you know. Why? Why!? I hate this! I hate it! I was good until I moved here! I was fine suffering on my own in my little house in Hollywood.

Well ... maybe not.

I should probably say it to myself, say what I did. Why I did it. Maybe that'll clear my mind from it. If I just said it out loud.

* * *

"What's wrong with you?" Kreg asked me as me put groceries in the bag.

"Nothing." I grunted.

"It seems like something, something you're not telling me." he said.

I sigh and roll my eyes, "It's none of your freakin' buisness." I snapped at him.

"Fine, fine. ... Mr. Grumpy." he mumbled.

I pushed my hand through my hair, and continued to work.

"It's about Charlotte isn't it?" Kreg continued to say, "I heard you two were somewhat of an item. I already made up a couple name for you, it's 'Chad.'"

"Kreg, that's my name."

"No ... no, it's the 'C-H' from Charlotte's name, and the 'A-D' from your name." Kreg said.

"Exactly," I sighed, "And that spells C-H-A-D. Chad. My name."

"Well, it was either that or 'Char-lotte', and that's even lamer. Almost as lame as 'Channy.'"

Channy.

"Y'know, you and Sonny Munroe's couple name. Yeah, it was kinda weird."

"I-I have to go to the bathroom." I said quickly walking away.

"But you're not done your shift yet!" Kreg yelled after me.

* * *

If I just said it out loud, everything would get better. Maybe I could go and actually _talk _to Charlotte instead of just walking into the diner, ordering something, eating it, hardly talking to her, paying, then leaving.

Like the first day I went back to the diner. She said _nothing_, nothing about what happened. It was a simple question like,

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Coffee?"

"Um, sure."

"What about food?"

"Um, just a burger or something."

"So what is it?"

"What is what?"

"A burger, or something?"

"Um, a burger."

"Okay, everything on it?"

"Um, yeah, sure."

"'Kay, I'll go get that for you."

Something that simple. I didn't understand it, she wasn't bugging me about "talking" about it, she was bugging me about it at all! It was insane!

She was the one going, "Oh Chad you HAVE to talk about it! Blah, blah, blahblahblah!" and now ... NOTHING!

I don't understand girls.

This had been going on for about a week, and finally I decided to stop it.

It was about nine o'clock at night when I knocked on the diner door, the diner was closed, and the door was locked, but Charlotte was in there wiping down the tables and putting the chairs up.

When she heard me tapping on the door she walked over and let me in.

Rushing past her I said, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with _me_?" she asked in confusion.

"You're not bugging me about it!"

"Bugging you about _what_?"

"About ... me ... well ... you know." I mumbled.

"No, Chad, I actually don't."

"About me kissing you!" I cried, shocked about how I actually said it.

"Oh ..." she breathed, "Yeah, that."

"Yeah!" I said nodding my head, "You're not bugging me about it, you're not talking to me about it! Why?"

"Because you're obviously not ready." Charlotte said simply, leaning against a table, "You have _never _wanted to talk about it before, and I don't think that's going to change automatically. So I decided instead of pushing you, I'm giving you time. Unless ... you're ready now?"

"No ... no." I whispered, "I'm not ... it was just ... different."

"Okay ... well ... you _do _know, you can come to me when you're ready."

"Yeah, I do. And ... I-I will."

"So ... we're good?"

"Yeah, we're good." I said with a smirk, "I only kissed you because ... I thought you were Sonny ..."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Yeah ... well ... I'm still sorry."

"Okay then.

"Yes."

'Okay."

"You know what I noticed?"

"What?" she questioned me.

"You kissed back." I said, my smirk widening.

Her mouth widened in shock, "I did NOT!"

"Did to."

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"HA!"


	8. Chapter Seven:Fall November Thanksgiving

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Seven

**November  
****Thanksgiving**

I was starting to get sick of my job. It was always a long and boring day of putting things in a bag over and over again, or swiping things over a shiny light over and over again. And, of course, I had Kreg to deal with, telling me _what _I was doing wrong, _how _I was doing it wrong. Et cetera, et cetera.

I was happy that today I was just putting things away, while Kreg was counting inventory, (To which I would steal one or two things off the shelf that he was counting, then after he was _done _I would put them back on and say, "Hey Kreg, you missed a couple.")

Oh glorious day.

Yet it sucked as well. ...

I shuffled myself into Charlotte's and collapsed at a table.

Charlotte came over to me and sat down, "Hiya Cooper.

"Adams." I said in response.

"The usual dinner meal?" she asked.

"Yep." I said, making the "p" pop.

"Rough day, huh?" she asked, quickly scribbling down my order and standing up.

I got up and followed her behind the counter, as she went and started to re-fill everyone's coffee.

"When do I _not _have a rough day?" I said.

"Touché," she said, "But was it 'rougher' than usual?"

"Eh ... not really. Kreg hardly talked to me, so that was nice." I said.

"Oh, c'mon! Kreg's nice!"

"Barely." I scoffed.

"What is your problem with him anyway?" she asked, as we finally made it back to my table.

"Well, he just is always ... I don't know ... well ... I uh ... – I just don't really like him okay!"

Charlotte smirked, "Exactly, but whatever. He's your friend."

I shrugged, "Not really ... I don't really have anyone here that I could actually call a 'friend.'"

Charlotte's face fell slightly, "Oh ... really? A-are you okay?"

"Psh, yeah I'm fine. Just ... fine."

"Yeah, because _that's _totally believable." she said sarcastically.

"It is." I said with a smirk.

"Hey, guess what's this weekend?" Charlotte asked.

"What?" I asked with fake-enthusiasm.

She caught it and sent me a glare, "Haha, funny Cooper. – Thanksgiving is this weekend!"

"Oh, um ... yay?" I asked, pumping my hand into the air slightly.

Another holiday I felt was pointless to celebrate. What did _I _have to give thanks to? A world where I have no friends? A world where I feel very sad? Yeah, because that's _soo _worth "giving thanks" to.

"Try and be a _little _excited, for me." she said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"I usually go to ... um ... Hartford to see my parents, but they – um – they went to visit my ... cousins in ... Canada. So I have no one to spend Thanksgiving with this year. So I was _thinking_, you could come by this Friday and I could cook us a turkey dinner."

I eyed her, "Come by ... where? Here?"

"No, stupid, my house." Charlotte scoffed.

"And where is this 'house' I'm just currently hearing about?" I asked.

She pointed above to the ceiling.

"You live in heaven!?" I cried jokingly.

She rolled her eyes, "No, I live above my diner. It's like a little apartment."

"I see."

"Yes – well, not really but you've _heard _of."

"Uh-huh." I said.

"So, do you want to come?"

I licked my lips in though, then shrugged, "Sure, I guess. Why not?"

"Okay then."

"Thanksgiving."

"Yes."

"With the turkeys and crap, and the weird pioneer people with the weird hat's with belt buckles. Fun!"

"Oh, just shut it." Charlotte laughed, hitting me in the arm.

Then she got up and went to get my burger.

* * *

I pulled my grey sweater over my head, and slipped on my shoes. This was going to be an interesting night.

I grabbed my blue coat and I started to walk to Charlotte's.

The sign on the door said "Closed" but I just walked in, because _I _was supposed to. I went into the back and found a staircase and followed that up, into a small one room apartment, where Charlotte was standing at the stove.

"Hey Charlotte." I said coming through the door, slipping my coat off.

"Just keep your shoes on, I keep them on all the time." she said.

I nodded as she turned to look at me, she was wearing black pants, a blue cardigan and a yellow shirt underneath, and black and white flat shoes. She was wearing her glasses, thank you! She did look great.

"You look great Charlotte." I said, rubbing my hand on the back of my neck.

A small blush appeared on her cheeks, "Thanks. Um ... so do you."

"Thanks." I said quietly looking around her small room, "So, this is where you live?"

"Yeah, it's small and stuff, but it's easier than paying mortgage for two places, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it. It's nice, for a small one room little thing." I said.

"So, dinner's ready if you just want to sit down." she said.

I sat down at the table as Charlotte set the turkey down.

"Did you make all this?" I asked, as she set down mashed potatoes, gravy, apple cider, water.

"Yeah, I did. I _do _run a diner." she said with a small laugh.

"So, I can just dig in?"

She laughed a bit more, "Yeah, you can 'dig in' or whatever."

The food was amazing! Well, I _knew _it would be, but it was still great. We just talked, and hung out and ate, and ate, and ate.

After supper I helped her with the dishes, and then we just stood in the kitchen talking some more.

"I feel all bloat-y." Charlotte whined.

"Well, Thanksgiving kinda does that to you." I pointed out.

"Yeah, true." she said.

There was a slight moment of silence as I cleared my throat.

"Hey, Chad ... you know when you said you didn't have any friends?" Charlotte said quietly.

"Oh, yeah. What about it?" I asked.

"I thought ... _we _were friends. Aren't we?"

"Oh ... yeah. Yeah we are." I said.

"Good." she said.

"Charlotte?"

"Yeah."

I exhaled, "I think you're my best friend."

A smile spread across her lips and she brought me into a hug.

Then I felt the corners of my lips curve, and I smiled. I mean I actually _smiled_. Not a fake smile to make myself look happy, a _real_, _sincere_ smile. And it felt great, it felt amazing to smile after eight years of heartbreak.

I had something to be thankful for.

* * *

**Authors Note  
**And there was the next chapter! I hope you guys liked it! ^_^

I don't think I've told you guys about this, but a friend of mine here on fanfiction (HeCalledHerCass - go check out her fanfictions!) has made a trailer for Behind the Veil! So if you could go check that out that'd be awesome!

Here's the link, don't forget to take out the spaces!  
http:// www. youtube. com/watch? v=TvI hn38 YJf8

the links to Chad and Charlotte's outfits are not my profile. :)

Yeaah ... so ... just review.

k**thx**bi


	9. Chapter Eight: Fall Mid November

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Eight

**Fall  
****Mid November**

"_Chad ... we need to talk."_

_Those four words never meant anything good, I tried to shake the thought out of my mind of what could be happening. I dropped her hands from my grip and looked at her._

"_I'm leaving ..." Sonny said._

"_Leaving to where?"_

"_I-I don't know yet."_

"_When will you be back?"_

"_That's the thing, Chad ... I'm not coming back. I wanted to tell you ... that maybe we should ... break up."_

"_Why? We've been going so well ... haven't we?"_

"_Yeah ... we have."_

"_Then, why Sonny, why?"_

"_Because ... I ... don't think I ..." her voice dropped down into a low whisper, "I don't think I love you."_

_My heart dropped. I ... no ... this couldn't ... we couldn't ... I couldn't._

"_Chad ... Chad?"_

"_Don't say anything to me." I hissed at her face._

_Tears started falling from her face, slowly ... slowly ... until they left her cheek, and fell ever more slowly to the ground._

"_Chad ... please don't be mad ..." Sonny sobbed._

"_No ... no I'm not mad." I said grinding my teeth together, "Just ... a little furious maybe."_

"_Couldn't we still be friends?"_

_I wanted to say yes. I did. But not now. Not ... right now._

"_No." Then I tried to turn. _

"_**Chad! Chad, please! Please try to understand! Chad ... CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

_Her sobs filled my ears, almost like a painful scream, I tried to move my feet but I couldn't they were stuck._

"_**CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

_Suddenly there were six different Sonny's surrounding me, screaming at me._

"_**CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

_Six Charlotte's took the spaces between the Sonny's, crying at me, screaming my name. Sobbing._

"_**CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

_My ears. They felt like they were bleeding._

"_**CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

"_**CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

"_**CHAD! CHAD PLEASE!"**_

"_**CHAD!"**_

I bolted upwards in my best, catching my breath. Beads of sweat dropping on my forehead.

I looked at the clock: 3:10 AM. This was the fifth time tonight I've woken up because of my nightmares.

I lied back down in my bed, rubbing my eyes, I lied there. In the silence.

My ears were still ringing, and my heart was beating faster than normal.

It was like ... my dreams were trying to tell me something.

* * *

I stood in the grocery store putting boxes of crackers away on the shelves. Fun, huh?

"Chad." Kreg said coming up to me.

"Yes, Kreg?" I asked him with a bland voice.

"We're somewhat-friends, right?" he asked me.

I shrugged, "I guess. ... Sure, we're 'somewhat-friends.'"

"Then as my somewhat-friend I need to ask you a question." Kreg continued on.

"Is it a somewhat-question?" I asked jokingly.

Kreg looked at me like I was crazy.

"Nevermind," I sighed, "Continue."

"Okay," he started, "Well, I think I'm in love."

"Really?"I asked, "That's, um, great."

"Yes the thing is, she doesn't know." Kreg said.

"Know about you, or know about you loving her?" I asked.

"Know about my loving her. She knows about me, yes, I say we're quite good friends."

"Well, that's good."

"Yes, but ... I want to tell her, that I love her. And I'm just wondering ... how should I do that?"

"How should you tell her you love her?" I asked.

"Yes, exactly." he said, twiddling his fingers.

"Well ... you should just ... tell her. Be straight with her. Honest and crap, girls love that kind of stuff."

"Honest?" Kreg questioned.

"Yep, honest. Just go tell her, no matter how scared you are."

That's how I told Sonny ...

***********

"_Hello, hello, hello!" I said, bursting into her dressing room._

_She glared at me, "What do you want Chad?"_

"_I'm here to tell you something, Sonny." I said, leaning against the wall in my usual cocky way._

"_Well what is it? 'Hi I'm CDC, the best actor of our generation, here JUST to tell you that I'm the best actor of our generation!' There! If that's it, you can leave now."_

"_No, no. Sonny." I said with a smirk, "I ... actually want to tell you ... that ... um, that."_

"_That what?!"_

"_That I love you!"_

"_Really, Chad, really?" Sonny asked, her face softening, her eyes staring up at me._

"_Yes. Yes I do."_

***********

"Chad? Chad? Are you listening to me, Chad?" Kreg asked, breaking me out of my trance, "Thanks."

"Oh yeah, you're welcome." I said.

Then Kreg walked away, letting me back to my work.

* * *

I was in Charlotte's diner, having my usual lunch, a turkey sandwich and a glass of Coke. Charlotte was wiping the table in front of me.

Kreg walked through the door, going to get some lunch I suppose.

"Charlotte, I need to talk to you." he said.

"What can I get for your Kreg?" Charlotte asked, dropping the rag.

"I actually have more of a question for you." Kreg said.

"Oh, well, okay. What is it?"

"Will you go on a date with me?"

Quite conveniently I was taking a sip of my drink, only to do a spit take, all over Charlotte.

I looked up at Charlotte, who looked at me with disgust.

"I'm going to go clean up." she said, walking away.

"Yeah ... that would be a good idea." I mumbled.

Then she disappeared upstairs.

"You're in love with _Charlotte_?!" I snapped at Kreg in a whisper.

"Yes. She is the morning sun to my sky."

I eyed him carefully.

"Who did you _think _I was talking about?" Kreg asked.

"I don't know, I thought you were talking about another crazy person in a mental institute or something." I said.

"Just because my last two – ... FIVE girlfriends had just came out, just put in, our IN a Mental Institute doesn't mean you can judge me." Kreg said huffily.

"Okay, okay!" I said putting my hands up in defense, "But why Charlotte?"

"Why not? She's beautiful, kind, pleasant, she puts up with you–"

"–Hey!"

"It's true. She does. Are you jealous, Chad?"

"WHAT?! NO!" I screamed.

And I _wasn't_! Charlotte was my friend ... that I kissed ... but that's because I thought she was Sonny! And I was drunk! I have a good excuse.

"Really? Because, everyone knows that she has some sort of crazy crush on you." Kreg said.

"Charlotte does not have a 'crazy crush' on me! You're crazy! That's what's crazy!"

Kreg raised an eyebrow at me.

"SHE DOESN'T!" I cried.

Does she?

* * *

**Authors Note:  
**Okay, so this is a little sub-plot, thanks to **HeCalledHerCass **for the HILARIOUS idea! This will probably be resolved in the next chapter, not going to drag this on, because I have something special planned for Chad and Charlotte's Christmas Celebration. Can anyone guess what it is? Probably not. :)

If you enjoy my fanfictions, and want to know what's going on with them behind the scenes, please check out my blog, where I'll be posting about the life/fanfictions etc.

_Take out the spaces  
_www. wearenerdshearusroar . wordpress . com

Thanks!


	10. Chapter Nine: Fall Mid November

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Nine

**Fall  
****Mid November**

So ... the past couple of days have been awkward. I mean, how COULDN'T they? KREG asked CHARLOTTE out. As if she'd actually say yes.

No offense to Kreg, but he's a little ... erm ... strange.

"Um, coffee?" Charlotte asked me.

"Yeah ... sure." I said, pushing my cup towards her.

Our conversations lately have been about three - five words.

"Here."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"So ..."

"So ...?"

"I'm thinking of saying yes to Kreg." Charlotte said sitting down across from me at the table.

Woah ... seven words.

"Wait ... you're thinking of saying _yes _to Kreg?" I asked her.

She nodded, "He _is _really sweet, and he's my friend, one date couldn't hurt."

"You're thinking of saying _YES _to _Kreg_!" I whispered.

Charlotte groaned, "Yes!"

"Why?"

"I just said why!" she snapped at me, "He's nice, and he's my friend, and it wouldn't for me to just live through _one _date!"

"Yes, that's true. It wouldn't hurt _you_," I said, "But it would hurt Kreg. Charlotte, Kreg said he _loves _you."

"What!?" Charlotte almost shrieked, "When?!"

"The day he asked you out. He told me."

"He told you he loved me!?"

"Well, he said he loved _somebody_, he didn't really tell me it was you. So I didn't know until he came in here and asked you out."

"So that explains the whole 'spit take' thing." Charlotte murmured.

I laughed nervously, "Heh ... yeah."

"So ... you _don't _think I should say yes?" Charlotte questioned.

I shook my head.

"Okay ... I'll think about it. I just don't want to hurt his feelings." she said.

"Totally understand. But he _is_ a little weird." I commented.

"He's sweet."

"I didn't even know he _had _feelings." I mumbled.

Charlotte laughed and whacked me in the arm.

I guess things were _sort of _back to normal.

* * *

I was standing in George's Market putting cans on the shelf, I only had a few more to go, and then my day was over. I could _finally _go home and sleep – well, _try _to sleep, I never knew what night my dreams chose to torture me.

"Chad?" Kreg said coming up to me.

"Yes, Kreg?" I mumbled.

"It's been a couple of days ... do you think Charlotte has made up her mind?"

I shifted my feet, "Uh ... well. I don't know." I lied.

"Oh ... you haven't really talked about it with her?" Kreg asked.

I shook my head, "No."

"I thought you two were best friends." Kreg said with his eyebrow raised.

"We _are_. We just don't talk about our romantic lives with each other."

"Why not?"

_Because of Sonny ..._

"Because we just don't." I snapped at him.

"Well, don't you think you could ask her if–"

"Sorry Kreg. I have to go." I said, walking into the staff room and grabbing my coat, "See yah!"

I started down the street and started to pass Ms. Maria's dance studio.

"Oh Chad, darling! Have you heard the lastest news? Kreg and Charlotte are dating!" she said with her sugar-sweet voice.

I turned my head to her, "They're not dating." I stated, "Kreg only asked Charlotte out."

"Oh really? Well Gabi must have got it wrong then ..." Ms. Maria mused.

"Yes, she must've." I mumbled.

"What's been going on with you lately, Chad?" Ms. Maria asked me.

"Nothing." I said.

"Is it about Charlotte? Because I think she's nuts about you, you should ask her out, just on one date. See how it goes."

"No, Ms. Maria. Charlotte is my friend – my best friend – I'm not going to ask her out. Plus, I don't think _Kreg _would like that."

Ms. Maria cocked her eyebrow, "Don't kill me Chad, but you sound _jealous_."

"I'm not jealous!" I yelled.

"Okay, okay!" Ms. Maria said, putting up her hands as a defense.

"I'm going to get coffee." I said, walking past her dance studio and into Charlotte's.

"Oh hey, Chad." Charlotte said, as I sat down on one of the stools.

I grunted in response.

She leaned on the counter, "I told Kreg no." she whispered.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He was actually fine about it, he understood, but he sounded heartbroken." she said with a sigh.

"Yeah, well you should've expected at least that." I mumbled.

"Yeah, I guess. So what can I get you?"

"Um, a cheeseburger, a coke and a piece of pie for desert." I said.

"Okay."

In about fifteen minutes Charlotte set my order in front of me.

"Hey, Chad can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Yeah sure." I said.

"Were you jealous?" she asked.

"What?!"

"Of Kreg asking me out, were you jealous of him?"

"No." I said, sternly.

"A lot of people said you were, and it kind of looked like you were." Charlotte commented.

"Well, I wasn't." I said.

"Then what was it? Because something was wrong." Charlotte said softly.

I sighed and stared at my hands, "You look like Sonny right?" I whispered.

I heard Charlotte say a "Mmhmm."

"Well, it was like ... seeing Sonny with someone else – even if it was Kreg – and ... I ... it hurts to picture her with someone else." I told her.

"Well, if you think about it she probably _is _with someone else." Charlotte blurted out.

Sonny ... with someone else? Not with me. Because she didn't love me. _"__**I don't think I love you.**__"_

I started to shake, and hyperventilate, everything around me started to spin.

"Chad? ... Chad? .... Chad!" I heard Charlotte say.

I felt her grab me and pull me somewhere, but I was too dizzy to notice where she took me, she sat me against what I think was a wall.

"Chad, Chad you're okay. Okay? Look at me, you're okay, you're fine. Okay? Take this bag, and breath, slowly." she whispered to me, holding up a paper bag to my mouth, "In ... out ... in ... out ... in ... out." she said along with my breathing.

I pushed the bag away from the mouth, and swallowed leaning my head back on the wall. She had taken me into the back I realized now.

"Chad, you just had a panic attack." Charlotte said to me very sternly.

I nodded, "It's not like it's never happened before." I whispered.

"What?!" she hissed.

"They used to happen all the time ... after s-she left. Tawni Hart used to help with them. Calm me down and stuff." I said.

"You were ... close to Tawni Hart?" she asked.

"Yeah ... she was ... kind of my best friend back then, I guess. She was really the only one who talked to me like a normal person – or actually talked to me at all.

You see, after ... _she _left, Grady Nico and Zora all hated me, they thought I was the one who broke up with ... _her_, and so they wouldn't talk to me. Only Tawni knew the truth, she was the only one who would believe me. So ... I started having the panic attacks ... maybe, a few months after. Yeah. I thought they were over, I guess not."

"It's my fault I brought it up." Charlotte said.

"No, it's fine. I have some of the medication at home I can take for a few weeks, I'll just go home." I said standing up.

"Don't you want to eat?" she asked.

"I'm not really hungry anymore ..." I whispered.

"Well, I'm not going to let you walk home alone, I'll drive you. I'll get my truck, just wait outside. C'mon." she said.

"I need to pay." I said.

"No, it's on me. Now, come." Charlotte said, taking my sleeve and pulling me.

I grabbed her hand and made her look at me, I kissed her on the cheek and forced a smile.

"Thank you." I said.

"For what?"

"Just ... thank you."

* * *

**Authors Note:  
**Okay -- FINALLY -- here it is. See? All resolved, AND you learned something new about Chad and his past without Sonny.

Pay attention to my blog, guys, ( . ) I'll be posting a Behind The Keyboard thing about this chapter probably by tomorrow. :)

Please review! :D It would be GREATLY appreciated!


	11. Chapter Ten: Winter December Christmas

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Ten

**Winter  
****December  
****Christmas**

It's cold outside. Very. _Very, _cold.

I don't like the cold.

See, I _would _stay inside, but then I'd just starve to death. Since I can't even make _cereal_! Heck, every time I try and pour a glass of milk, half of the milk still ends up on the floor! That's the reason I hardly buy any groceries, so I don't waste my low, low pay as cashier in the Grocery Store, I use it to buy food to eat at Charlotte's.

That just happened to be where I was now.

"How has _your _day been?" I asked Charlotte with a grunt.

"Well, I serve people, the people eat, I clean up for the people, and they pay me." Charlotte said, "It's really quite simple."

"I still don't understand why I can't work here with you. It would be much more simpler." I said.

"I told you," Charlotte said, with annoyed tone, "I don't need any help!"

"This place is packed!" I cried, turning to look at all the full table.

"After doing it for about six years, I think I can keep up." Charlotte whispered in my face.

I sucked in a breath silently as she got closer to me. Sometimes, I was afraid, that if she got too close, I would have an urge to kiss her again. No offense to Charlotte, but I really don't want that happenening.

"Fine." I sighed, I turned around on the stool, and threw a twenty dollar bill on the counter, "I gotta go anyways." I said.

"Hey, Chad wait," Charlotte said, hopping over the counter, "Christmas is coming up."

"Don't remind me . . ." I mumbled quietly.

"What was that?" Charlotte asked.

"Nothing, continue." I sighed.

"Well, I really don't have anyone to celebrate Christmas with this year – or usually any year for that matter, I usually just work all day, so people can have a nice Christmas brunch. But, I was wondering if you would like to come over on Christmas morning, you could stay, eat supper?"

I took a shaky breath, and stuffed my hands into my pockets, "Do I have to get you anything?" I asked.

"It would be appreciated." she said with a small wink.

"I . . . I guess. But, why don't you come to my house? You really have only been there once, and . . . that day didn't go too well." I said with a raspy laugh.

Charlotte smiled, "Your house? Well, okay. I'll bring over food to cook – since you obviously can't."

"Whatever." I scoffed, "I'll just see you then, Christmas morning, ten o'clock?"

"Sure. See yah then, Cooper." Charlotte said waving to me.

I gave her a weak smile and walked out of the diner.

Great, now I have to buy a tree.

* * *

"_Are you sure they're going to like me?" Sonny asked me, holding my hand tightly._

"_Certain, you're a very likeable person, Sonny." I promised, kissing her cheek._

_She smiled at me, that smile I loved. __**That smile I missed.**__ I took her hand and lead into my parents huge mansion._

"_Mom! Dad!" I called, "We're here!"_

_My Mom appeared around the corner and smiled at the sight of Sonny._

"_You must be Sonny Munroe," she said happily, "My son just _can't _stop talking about you!"_

"_Mom!" I whined._

_Sonny giggled, "It's okay, Chad," she said, then she turned to my Mom, "I can't stop talking about him either."_

_Mom gave her another huge smile, "Come on, dinners just gotten finished, let's go sit down at the table, shall we?" she said, linking arms with Sonny and taking her into the dining room._

_My Dad was in the living room, in his finest suit._

"_Hello, you must be Sonny," he said, holding out his hand, that Sonny shook, "I'm Clyde, Clyde Dylan Cooper, and this is my _lovely _wife, Clarissa_ _Danielle Cooper."_

"_I now see where the 'CDC' came from," Sonny said with a laugh._

_Mom and Dad laughed along with her. Good, they liked her, but then again – who _couldn't _like Sonny?_

"_What are we having for supper?" Sonny asked, as I held out her chair for her. Then going over to my chair._

"_Ham, potatoes, the usual Christmas dinner." Mom said, as Dad helped her into her seat._

"_Sounds delicious." Sonny commented with her bright smile._

_**Suddenly, my parents beautiful dining room, that shone brightly, seemed to burn down into a black mess, and the table started to wobble. Though my parents OR Sonny didn't seem to notice anything.**_

"_**Uh . . . guys–" I started to say.**_

"_So, Sonny . . . you seem to like my son a lot . . . do you love him a lot?" Mom asked._

"_**Actually, no. I hate your son, I don't love him at all. I'm only here to break his heart." Sonny said, turning to me and staring at me hard in the face. It was intimidating, so intimidating it was hard to look at her.**_

_**Then he started laughing, a laugh that wasn't her own, it was far off. It was evil, and cold. It was a laugh I didn't recognize at all. **_

_**I closed my eyes, and plugged my ears, trying to drown out the laughter, but the second I covered my ears, the laughter grew louder, making it ring in my eyes.**_

"_**Now, now Chad, it's not polite to cover your ears during supper." my Mother said, coming behind me and forcing my hands off my ears.**_

_**My Mother wasn't ever the strongest person, but now she had the iron grip, almost breaking my fingers as she pried them away from my ears.**_

_**Sonny was still laughing, as the rain started from nowhere, then the thunder, then the lightening.**_

_**There was a flash, and suddenly, Sonny wasn't Sonny . . . she was Charlotte, Charlotte wasn't laughing, she was staring at my intently from across the table, but the laughter still came through the air.**_

"_**I ... moved here when I was eighteen." **__**Charlotte said to me.**_

"_**What, I . . . uh . . ." I started to say.**_

"_**You need to get over it! Because she's not here! She's not here Chad! You're n-not near h-her!" Charlotte continued to say.**_

"_**Wait, Charlotte . . . what are you talking about?" I asked her. **_

"_**Chad, I don't know why I look like S-Sonny, I've n-never noticed it before, but I do, and you've apparently noticed."**_

_**Then I realized something.**_

"_**Chad, I-I'm not–"**_

"_**You were ... close to Tawni Hart?" **_

"_**Well, if you think about it she probably is with someone else." **_

_**These were memories. These were actual things Charlotte said to me.**_

_**But, why? Why were they so important.**_

I bolted upright in bed, panting.

I sighed, holding my head in my hands. I hated my nightmares. They had quieted down over the past couple of years, but they were still bad. And whenever they happened, I felt defeated.

I had night terrors. True story. I bolt up screaming, and my Mother would run into my room, trying to hold me tight, to calm me down, but I would just thrash around in bed, swatting my hands everywhere, until Mom just had to leave. Though, when I was 18 my Mom finally helped me get rid of them. I would have to get up at three o'clock AM, when the night terrors would usually start. I would just sit in my bed, and stare at the walls until five, when my night terrors would usually end, and I would go back to sleep until seven. Then I got medication, and they went away.

I looked at the time now, it was getting close to seven o'clock, so I got up and took my shower, dressing in black dress pants, and a blue dress shirt. By then it was almost nine o'clock, so I sat down on my couch, and flipped around on the TV until Charlotte arrived.

An hour or so later, I was still lounging on my couch, when the doorbell rang, I jumped up and walked over, letting Charlotte in.

"Hey." she said, "Point the way to the kitchen, this stuff is heavy."

In her hands she had a huge ham, a plastic bags with potatoes, and another bag with vegetables and things.

"Why didn't you just drive down here?" I asked.

"Because you live a block away from the diner, and I don't feel like wasting gas, and killing our planet." Charlotte said, as she dropped everything down on my table with a loud bang.

"Um . . . that's a lot of food." I pointed out.

"Okay, I have a plan. First I'll cook, then we eat, and then we'll open the presents."

"Presents?"

"Chad! Don't tell me you forgot a present!" Charlotte whined.

I laughed, "Calm down, I was just playing with you."

Charlotte pouted slightly, "Not funny."

I only smiled.

So we followed Charlotte's plan, she cooked, (note the word _she, _as in _I _didn't!)We ate, and then we sat down on the floor next to my bare tree.

"Your tree is bare." Charlotte said, pointing at it.

I laughed nervously, "Haha, yeah . . ."

"How come?" she asked.

"Why don't you just open your present!" I said, shoving the small box into her hands.

She smiled and took the box from my hands, she ripped the paper off, and opened it up, and gasped. She took out the small necklace I had bought very cheap. – Let's just not tell her that part.

"Oh Chad . . ." she whispered, "It's beautiful. Thank you"

I shrugged, "I didn't really didn't know what to get you, so I just walked into that jewelry store, and I saw it. It just kinda screamed you," I said, "Oh, there's more."

"More?" she asked looking down into the box, then she laughed, taking out the piece of paper, "A coffee gift certificate. Thanks"

"Since you're a caffeine addict."

She only laughed again, "Okay, now here's yours."

I took the package from her hands and started to rip the paper off, it was a picture, of us. It was about . . . I don't know, a couple weeks ago. I smiled at it, we were just sitting casually on a park bench.

"Do you like it?" Charlotte asked, "I know it's pretty simple, but . . ."

"No, it's great. I love it, thank you."I said, putting it onto the coffee table.

"Are you going to answer my question now?" she asked, looking at me.

"What question?" I asked. Though I knew _exactly _what she was talking about.

"My question. You know. Why is your tree so blank?"

"Well . . ."I cleared my throat, "I only got it . . . like three days ago."

"You only got it _three _days ago?" Charlotte said in surprise, "Why?"

"Because . . . I . . ." I started, but then I stopped. I really didn't want to tell her.

"Because. . .?" she urged me.

I sighed, "Because, I don't like Christmas!"

"What?" she cried, "You don't like Christmas?"

"No." I answered simply.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because . . . well . . ." I started, "Because . . . it was Sonny's favourite holiday."

"Oh . . ." Charlotte said breathlessly.

"She brought the Sunny to Christmas." I whispered.

"Chad, you really need to talk about this with someone." Charlotte said.

"What?" I asked, turning my head to look at her.

"A therapist, we could find you a therapist." she suggested.

_No, _I thought, shaking my head.

"Or, some sort of Doctor, to help you with depression, you just need some–"

"NO!" I yelled, causing Charlotte to gasp.

"Why not?" she yelled back at me.

"Because I–!" I stopped myself and lowered my voice, "Because I don't want help." I said more quietly.

"You _need _help though." Charlotte whispered to me.

"I'm doing fine on my own. Besides, aren't _you _the one who said, 'I'll give you time, and when you want to talk about it, I'll be right here.'?" I said, making my voice go higher, when I was imitating Charlotte.

"Yes, I-I was, I just didn't think it would take this long!" Charlotte protested.

"It's taken me eight _years _to tell you how much I told you!" I said, "It's probably going to take longer for me to tell you _everything_!"

We were now both on our feet.

"Yeah, just tell me, in like twenty years!" Charlotte yelled, "That's just GREAT!"

"GOOD!"

"GOOD!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

I let out a breath as I turned to the wall and lied my arms against it, then I turned around.

"Chad . . ." Charlotte started softly, "Have you ever . . . cried?"

I stared at her like she was crazy, "Yeah, when I was like, two seconds old."

"No, I mean . . . have you ever cried over Sonny?"

I decided not to tell her about the time I broke down when I kissed her.

"Well . . . no." I said.

"Well maybe that's what you need, is to cry."

I'm _not _going to cry." I said, sitting down on my couch.

"Maybe not now . . . but . . . maybe, soon, you will need to. Sometimes to get rid of feelings, you need to . . . cry." Charlotte explained.

"That may work for you _females_, but me – being a male – doesn't cry over a break up. Especially one that happened eight years ago." I said.

Charlotte put her hand on my shoulder, "Chad, it doesn't matter what gender you are. If you need to cry. Cry."

I looked into her eyes, her glasses, she was wearing her glasses, but behind the glasses I saw . . . that brown. The brown I thought no one else could possibly have.

We started leaning towards each other, our noses brushed each others, I saw Charlotte close her eyes, as if she was expecting what was going to happen next.

I backed away fast, I . . . just couldn't.

"Every year," I started, to gain Charlotte's attention, "I would buy Sonny two things for Christmas. A charm for this charm bracelet her Mom gave her, and a bouquet of red roses, she would expect it every year, but she would love it just the same." I said.

Charlotte looked at me with sad eyes, she didn't understand.

"About three weeks after she left, Tawni gave me a package. She didn't tell me who it was from, she said I would know once I opened it. I did. Inside the package were the two bracelet charms I had given her. I still have them."

"Why?" Charlotte asked softly.

"Because," my lip started quivering, but I bit it hard, "It's the only thing I have left of her."

That's when I lost it, I buried myface into my lap, and broke down like a three year old who had just lost his bag of gummy bears.

I felt Charlotte's arms close around me, giving me soft mumblings into my ear, and comforting me.

It felt like Sonny was holding me.

But it just wasn't the same.

* * *

**Authors Note:  
**Here is the long awaited chapter! AND, it just happens to be the LONGEST chapter I've EVER written! Seriously, it's insane!

Thank you for waiting a long time for this! But NOW, this is the story I'm focusing on, so I should be getting chapters up faster!

I seriously don't know how many more chapters of this story there will be, but hopefully 5-8 more? Hopefully! :)

Don't forget to review!


	12. Chapter Eleven: Spring April

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

**Spring  
****April**

It seemed to me, that something had changed. Since Christmas, when I opened up to Charlotte in that small story about Sonny, and the bracelet I gave her. Charlotte's just been acting . . . strange, not completely strange that she's creepy, or hard to hang out with or anything. Just . . . strange. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Like when I went into the diner the next day, she was all jittery, and was shaky, like she was afraid or confused about something. She spilt my coffee that day . . . – but that's beside the point. It was like she wanted to get away from me. I just figured she had a lot on her mind – though I didn't know _what _could be on her mind.

As I walked down the streets, heading towards the market, I saw a poster, it looked vaguely interested, so I stopped to look at it. It was talking about a movie night, here in town, in this coffee shop I'd been to once or twice for a doughnut. It wasn't saying what the movie was, it was some sort of surprise, but it was tonight. I wanted to go, but I didn't want to be a creeper sitting there just watching a movie by himself.

I know, Charlotte.

I walked into the diner, and sat down at a table, playing with the salt shakers, I continued to think.

If I invited Charlotte, how would it turn out? Because everything else we've ever done together has turned out ... well ... _interesting_. You know ... the kiss ... things like that.

"Hey Chad," Charlotte said, "What can I get you?"

"Pie." I answered.

"_Just _pie?" Charlotte asked, "That's not very healthy."

"Hey, look who's talking Mrs. Caffeine Addict." I scoffed.

"Okay, _just _pie," she answered, scribbling it down on her piece of paper, and turning to walk away.

"Wait!" I cried, grabbing her sleeve.

She turned to look at me.

"There's this ... uh, move thing tonight, at the ... uh, movie place, and I was wondering, if ... you'd like to go with me?" I asked avoiding her gaze, which seemed to pierce through me.

She raised her eyebrow at me, "So, like a date?"

"No!" I cried, "No, it's ... not a date ... it's a ... _friendly gathering_."

Wow I'm stupid.

"A 'friendly gathering'?" she asked looking at me suspiciously.

"Yeah, it's where ... two friends – me and you – um, gather in a ... friendly way?" I laughed nervously.

"Um, yeah sure, I'll go on the 'friendly gathering' with you, Chad." she said with a slight roll to her eyes.

"Really? Great. Now go get me my pie!" I ordered.

"It's not a date?" she asked.

"No." I said.

"Okay." she said turning away. _"It's a date!" _she coughed.

"What?" I cried.

"Oh nothing . . ." she said in a sing-song voice.

* * *

I sat in the small little strange thing that they called a "Movie Theater" here in Scarlet Springs. It was really just a empty building that had a white bed sheet up against the wall, an old projector and a bunch of folding chairs. Or also known as "Scarlet Springs In A Box." Seriously, like, everyone in town was here.

Right now I was waiting for Charlotte, she had called me and said she would be late, because she was having some trouble closing up the diner early. Too many people were coming in or something along those lines.

They still hadn't told ANYONE what movie they were showing, when I asked the owner of the shop – David – he said, "It's old."

Thanks David. That really helps.

I am excited for this though ... I really haven't been OUT in a while. I mean, I've been _out, _but not like "out-out" before. Well, I guess I can say that having a Christmas dinner with Charlotte was "going out" – Wait, no! Not "going out" as in "going out"! _Dammit_! I'm not going out with Charlotte!

Woah, mental spaz much, Chad.

I'm such a freak.

"Hey Chad," Charlotte said with a smile as she sat down beside me, "what's the movie we're watching."

"It's old." I said, trying to impersonate David.

"Right . . ." Charlotte said looking strangely at me.

"That's what David told me," I said pointing at David, who was standing over in the corner.

"I see. He's _very _informative." Charlotte said with a smirk.

"Mhm. At least we know the movie will be good," Charlotte said, "Old movies are the best."

"Yeah, that's true." I said, shifting in my seat a little.

There was an awkward silence for a while, we really hadn't hung out since Christmas ... and, uh, yeah. I had to admit, it was awkward for me, I'm not so sure about Charlotte, she was just sitting there staring around the room, tapping her fingers on the edge of the chair. Maybe she was nervous, I don't know ... she could be. But what does she have to be nervous about? She's not the one who broke down at a Christmas dinner.

Charlotte suddenly turned to me, "Chad–" she started, but was interrupted by David, at the side, talking into a microphone.

"Hello guys! I'm glad this had such a huge turn out!" he said, a few people cheered because us, "Anyways, I know you are just _dying _to find out what movie we're watching. Well, I guess I can tell you – it's old–"

"That's not helping!" I yelled at him.

David laughed, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Don't worry, I will now reveal what movie you children will be watching. ... _KING KONG_!"

I smiled, that was a great movie. Not anything too lovey-dovey or gross, it was just in the middle.

* * *

The movie was great, but what would you expect? It's King Kong!

Now Charlotte and I were walking back to her place, she said she could get us some coffee, and we could just hang out longer, since it was only 8:30.

I sat on her couch waiting for the coffee.

"So, I tried to ask you this before the movie started tonight," Charlotte started, "but then the movie started."

"Good timing." I smirked.

She smiled, "Yeah, whatever. ... Anyways, um, my question ... do you like me?"

I looked at her curiously, "Well, yeah, of course. You're, like, my best friend."

"No, Chad, I mean ... more. Do you like me _more _than a best friend?"

I stood up and went up close to her. I gazed into her eyes. They were brown, that beautiful brown, the brown I thought no one else could have.

I ran my hand through her hair. Her silky red hair. The brown roots were starting to show. I liked her red hair.

I slowly cupped her face in my hands, and pressed my lips to hers, I slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her close. Then I released her, stumbling back slightly, she stared at me with worried eyes, like she was scared I was going to run.

No. Not this time.

We both walked back to each other, pulling each other into a rough kiss, her hand pulling through my hair, my arms wrapping around her waist.

I grazed my tongue over her bottom lip, hoping she would grant me entrance, as she did, out tongues explored each others mouths, battling for dominance.

We stumbled over across her room, and softly landed on her bed, I started fumbling with her shirt, as she worked on my belt-buckle, I started to place soft, wet kisses along her jaw-line.

"Chad ..." Charlotte said in a raspy voice, as she was trying to get some breath back, "are you sure you want to do this?"

Without hesitation, without _any _fear in my voice I whispered ack into her ear, "Yes."

Then it dawned on me; it scared me, made me fear, made me curious, and made me happy.

That I could actually be getting over Sonny Munroe.

* * *

**Authors**_Note  
_Personally, I think this chapter goes by a LITTLE to fast for me, but I hoped you liked it anyway. :)


	13. Chapter Twelve: Spring April

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Twelve

**Spring  
****April**

I rolled over in the bed, the morning light shone brightly in my eyes.

Then I remembered what happened last night; I smiled. I was happy.

I sat up, then slid myself out of the bed, quietly got dressed trying not to wake Charlotte.

I lied back down beside Charlotte and rubbed the side of her arm, her back was facing me.

Charlotte moaned softly, she didn't turn to me, but she mumbled "Hello" and "Morning" to me.

I stared at her back, my hand stopped at her shoulder blade, I stared at it in horror. It was a birthmark, soft brown marking forming the shape of a giraffe. Joe the Giraffe.

_The beach was quiet that day, I twas also beautiful, and peaceful._

"_What's this?" I asked, pointing at her shoulder blade._

"_Oh that?" Sonny said, "That's my birthmark. Cool, huh? It's shaped like a giraffe."_

"_Yeah, it is cool." I said._

"_When I was five, me and my Mom decided to name it something, so we named him Joe. Chad, meet Joe the Giraffe. ... Say 'hello' Chad, don't me rude!"_

_I laughed, "Hello Joe the Giraffe."_

She noticed my lack of rubbing, she turned to face me.

"Chad?" she asked.

I stared at nothing. My face was struck with horror. My mind was blank.

She had got up and pulled on a nightgown, she walked up to me.

"Chad?" she asked, resting her hand on my shoulder.

I slapped her hand away hard, she gripped it in pain, I must've looked crazy.

It all made sense now, the way she acted towards me. When she dropped everything when she first saw me, she was surprised, but not the way she said she was. She was surprised to see me in general, she wasn't surprised to see Chad Dylan Cooper, the ex-teen heart sensation, she was surprised to see Chad Dylan Cooper.

The "good goods" and the "fine fines", that was my thing with ... _Sonny_, not my thing with ... her. No one knew about that, other than our cast mates, and it wasn't really a big story to tell in the first place.

She looks like her. How could I have not placed this before? Her eyes are _that brown, _her hair is red, but it's obviously _dyed _red, the roots are showing her eyebrows are _BROWN_.

The dreams, the dreams finally made sense.

_I ... moved here when I was eighteen."_

_You need to get over it! Because she's not here! She's not here Chad! You're n-not near h-her!"_

_Chad, I don't know why I look like S-Sonny, I've n-never noticed it before, but I do, and you've apparently noticed._

_Chad, I-I'm not–_

_You were ... close to Tawni Hart?_

_Well, if you think about it she probably is with someone else._

The dreams were telling me that ...

"Chad?" she said to me, one last time.

"Don't speak." I hissed through my teeth, "You do not have the right to speak."

"Chad, what are you talking abo–"

"Joe the Giraffe!" I yelled in her face.

Her face went ghostly pale, sudden fear rolled over her.

"Chad I–"

` "What did you think you were doing?" I asked her, "Letting all this happen?"

"I-I don't know ..."

"You ... you're _sick_!" I yell, by now I was standing up, across the room, "What kind of human being does this? You took an innocent hurting man, and fixed him, just to break him again!"

"Chad, I'm sorry."

"That doesn't CUT IT!" I screamed.

"I know, but ..."

"But _what_?"

"I don't know!" she screamed back at me, "I'm human, I make mistakes!"

"You are definitely not 'human' right now S- ... Char- ... WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR NAME ANYWAY?" I scream at her face, "How the HELL am I supposed to fucking address you if you fucking LIE about who you are?"

"I ..."

"Why did you do this?" I ask her, "Why did you let it get this far?"

"I don't know.

"HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW! YOU _FUCKING _MESSED UP THIS SHIT!"

"Chad, calm down!" she scolds me.

I scoff, "Calm down? _Calm down_? NO, I'm NOT going to CALM DOWN. This is YOUR fault!"

"I know it is ... I just need to ... think."

"Too late! You apparently couldn't think last night, or the day before that – Oh, how about when you were trying to get me to get over you? You should've _'thinked' _then!" I yell, I'm now half way across the room, not letting her near me, touch me, look at me.

Tears started running down her cheeks, now, no matter how much I hated her right now, I loved her, I wanted to run to her side, and hold her close. There was still that thing, she was Sonny, the Sonny I have missed so much for all these years, and I wanted her, no matter how much she hurt me. It took all of my strength not to run to her right now.

I bit my lip, "Why did you leave?" I asked, water forming in my eyes.

"I ... missed my old life. I missed Wisconsin, so I left, thinking that everything could go back to normal, but everyone knew who I was there, and I knew it would get out and you would come looking for me ... so I moved here, and changed my name. My legal name is Charlotte Adams."

"That's not good enough for me."I whispered, "You're sick, you ... disgust me. You ... you are a bitch."

More tears streamed down her face, calling me, ordering me to come to her, but I couldn't. The closer I got to her, the more it hurt.

I turn to leave, but she calls to me.

"Please, Chad, please! Please, listen! I'm sorry! CHAD!"

Tears now running down my cheeks I turn to her, "That didn't work last time. So it's not going to work this time." then I turn around once again going out the door.

She grabs onto my arm, "Chad, please try to understand!"

I squeeze my eyes shut, the pain is too much.

"I never stopped loving you."

I open my eyes slowly, and rip her hand away from me, "I wish I could believe that." I whisper, not turning to look at her.

Then I leave, and walk to my house. It's raining, wet and cold in the early morning. Tears are running fast down my face, and I couldn't control them, people were staring at me, whispering, wondering what happened.

"Chad?" I heard Ms Maria say, "Chad, what happened? Did you and Charlotte fight? Chad? CHAD!"

I walk past her, I'm staring at the ground, I'm looking at nothing. Cars were swerving past me, dodging me, old men yelling at me to get off the road. I ignore them all.

"_I never stopped loving you."_

I really do wish I could believe that.

* * *

**Authors Note:  
**Now to FINALLY answer the question everyone's been asking since the beginning: _Is Charlotte Sonny? _Yep, she is. :)

It was really interesting to see who people thought Charlotte was, I think someone said she could be Sonny's cousin, some I think thought she was a friend of Sonny, and some of you were just like, "Charlotte IS Sonny. T_T" it was fun to see that.

But now you know, and this story I believe has maybe about three-four chapters left :) I know what's going to happen, and I'll tell you something.

Tawni will be in one of these chapters, I really wouldn't be mentioning her so much if she wasn't, so she will be, I'm just not sure when yet, probably in the next chapter or two.

Also, I'll be switching from Chad's perspective to third person, because we're going to see Sonny, not just Chad's feelings.

OMG OMG OMG, this story almost as 200 reviews! THANK YOOOUUU GUYS, you guys are SO great, this will be my most reviewed story ... well, it IS my most reviewed story right now!

One last thing, if you could go check out **SceneSceneJellyBean **that could be great! I'm beta reading her SWAC fic for her, and it's really cool, so you guys should go read it!

www . fanfiction . net /~ SceneSceneJellyBean

Thanks guys,  
Emma


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Spring May

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

**Spring  
****May**

_I was standing in blackness, I couldn't see anything around me, yet I could see myself._

_I looked around through the darkness, I tried calling out to someone ... anyone, I wasn't really sure who, but my voice wasn't working,__no sound came out._

_Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming towards me, getting louder each time, I looked around frantically, trying to call out, but – again – nothing was coming out._

"_Hello Chad." came a voice – wait, no, it was _two _voices. The same voice, only saying things two times at the exact same time._

_It was ... her voice, Sonny's voice, or Charlotte's voice._

_Then they appear, smiling evily at me, holding hands._

"_Hello Chad." they repeat, "How are you?"_

"_Long time no see, huh?" Sonny says to me._

_Charlotte only laughs, her laughs grow louder, and louder, she's laughing ... at me._

"_You silly boy!" Charlotte giggles, "thinking that we would _actually _come back to you!" she continues laughing, this time Sonny joins her._

"_I told you I didn't love you!" Sonny laughs._

"_You silly boy!" they laugh together._

_I grip my ears in pain, and scream, an ear piercing scream._

* * *

I wake up screaming, I slap my hand over my mouth. The night terrors ... they were back. I touched my cheeks, they were wet, I had been crying.

I flip over onto my stomach and bury my head in my pillows and continue sobbing well into the night.

* * *

Sonny stood behind her counter, cleaning the various stains from ketchup or mustard off, she was in her own little world, she could hardly hear anyone calling her "name."

"Charlotte!" she finally heard, causing her to lift her head. It was a regular costumer name Jacob, he had his coffee mug high in the air waving it about. – Jacob wasn't very verbal.

Sonny walked over to him and poured the coffee, "Sorry," she says, "I've just been a little out of it lately."

"Yeah, I can tell," Jacob scoffs, "we can _all _tell."

Sonny sighs, "Fine Jacob, what do you want?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Jacob says, setting his coffee cup down, "." he says fast.

"What?"Sonny asks, completely missing what he said.

Jacob rubs his forehead, "I just want to know what happened between you anc Chad." he repeats quieter, "A lot of us want to know actually."

"Goodbye, Jacob." Sonny said with her teeth clenched.

"C'mon, Char, please!" Jacob begs.

"No!" Sonny feels the tears stinging in her eyes, but she blinks them away fast, "It's none of your freaking business, okay? So just drink your coffee and leave!"

"Okay ... okay." Jacob whispers, "Sorry."

Sonny just rolls her eyes and turns around back the counter, she sits on a stool and rubs her temples. She's stressed, she's busy ... her mind is on other things, she can hardly focus on things. Sonny could only think of ... her mistake. The many mistakes she had made. Currently, it was the one she made a month ago, or a few months ago actually, in early August.

She shouldn't of pushed her friendship with Chad, she should've just treated him like a normal person, who comes in her diner regularly. She knows now why she pushed their friendship ... it was because she missed him, she had missed him so much.

Sonny had made a mistake all those years ago, telling him she didn't love him, because . . . well, at the time, it was true. She didn't really think she loved him, it was all just too confusing. So she decided she didn't, though, truthfully, Sonny thinks she always did.

Now, she had screwed up far too much to actually fix it . . . or had she? Maybe she _could _fix it, if she just gave Chad some time to calm down, and think.

* * *

I swiped a carton of eggs over, and handed them to Kreg, he placed them in the bag, softly, making sure he didn't squish anything in the process, which only caused me to roll my eyes.

"So, Chad, how have you been these days?" Kreg asked, obviously trying to make conversation.

"Listen, Kreg, I'm not in the mood to be communicating with anyone, nor will I _ever _feel like communicating to anyone. I only have this job so I can make money and live, okay?"

Kreg and the costumer stare at my wide eyed in confusion, completely speechless.

"That'll be $53. 98." I mumble to the customer as she hands me her credit card.

"Chad!"

I freeze, "I have to get out of here." I whisper, then I turn, but a hand grabs me.

"Chad, please talk to me, let me explain." Charlotte or Sonny says to me. I'm not looking at her, I don't _want _to look at her.

"No." I say to her, and shove her off of me, but she just grabs on.

"Please, Chad, I just want to talk!" She begs me.

"NO!" I scream, causing everyone to look at me, "There's _nothing _to talk about, Char– . . . Son– . . . . Dammit! What's your name?"

She looks around the whole store, obviously hesitating, "Charlotte." she finally says.

"No, it's not!" I yell, "Your name _isn't _Charlotte, and you should seriously just _stop lying_, because it's going to make you loose everyone you ever had! – Hell, you've already lost me! So just tell the world!"

I wait, her eyes are glistened with tears, I bit my tongue to stop me from crying. She wasn't going to tell them, she wasn't, I could tell, she was too afraid.

"You won't? _Fine_, I will!"

Her eyes widen, as if she's afraid, begging me not to. I don't care, they deserve to know.

"She's Sonny Munroe!" I yell, everyone around us gasps, "That's right ... she's ... S-Sonny Munr-roe. And _yes_, that _is _the girl who was my girlfriend eight years ago!" My voice drops down to a whisper, "The girl I loved," then I swallow, and raise my voice again, "So, yeah, she has been lying to you all for years. But guess what? I'm not going to be lied to anymore, because I'm _done _here!" I start heading towards the door.

"Wait, Chad, you didn't finish your shift!" Kreg called after me.

"Tell Ashley I _quit_!" I yell at him.

Because I'm done here, completely. I'm packing, and leaving. And Sonny won't _ever _stop me!

* * *

**Authors Note:  
**OMC! OH MY CHAD! :)

GASP? - What's going to happen? Is Chad going to stay? Is Sonny/Charlotte going to ACTUALLY fix things? Why am I asking you these questions? - I ALREADY KNOW.

Sucks to be YOU, huh? Yep, it pretty much does. :)

Review anyways ... :)

OH MY GOSSSHHH, as of May 26, 2010 at 4:36 pm, this story has 235 reviews! OH MEH GEE! THANNNKKK YOOOOOUUU :D :D :D

You guys are like, seriously AWESOME! :) I appreciate it LOTS, you guys are like ... AMAZINNNN' :)

Love,  
Emma


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Spring May

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

**Spring  
****May**

"I just don't know what to do!" Sonny cried into the phone, "He's not talking to me, and he's going to move out, I need someone he trusts to talk to him!"

"Sonny, calm down." Tawni Hart said into the phone, "I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Tawni, it is! You don't understand . . . the whole town knows who I am now."

"Sonny . . . _I _didn't even know who was calling me, you haven't emailed me, or called me in five years! Do you know what that felt like for me? It was hurtful Sonny, all of a sudden, I lost all communication with you! You were my bestfriend."

Sonny's eyes started watering, "I am _so, so _sorry! It was a huge mistake . . . I just . . . I don't know, something went wrong, and I snapped and I tried to get rid of everything from my Hollywood life."

Tawni laughed dryly, "Don't worry about it, I'm far over being upset, or mad at you, I'm just living with it."

"Tawni, I need your help though, I need you to talk to him."

"I'll call him." Tawni said simply.

"No . . . I need you to talk to him in person. Please, Tawni please?" Sonny begged.

"I have nowhere to stay," Tawni said.

"You can stay with me." Sonny said smiling, "Please? I really want to see you too."

Tawni scoffed, "Well . . . I guess I can come."

"Really? Thank you, Tawni! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me!" Sonny cried, tears streaming down her face, "How fast can you be here?"

"If I start packing now, I can probably be there . . . in a day or two."

"Thank you Tawni!"

* * *

Tawni Hart sat silently on her private jet. She couldn't believe she was actually going to see Sonny after all these years, the painful years of the only best friend she ever had, – other than herself.

The Sonny she remembered was a bubbly little eighteen year-old girl, with the best boyfriend you could ever ask for. The next thing she knew, Sonny had left her a long email telling her she left, or was leaving, and that her and Chad broke up.

Naturally, Tawni had blamed Chad for Sonny leaving, but she had grown to learn that Sonny wasn't the one suffering over the break up, it was Chad, he was in so much pain over Sonny leaving. He never told her what exactly happened the night she left, he only gave her small bits, that she just burst out of nowhere that she was leaving. He never told her that she told him she didn't love him anymore, she only found that out from Sonny, the Sonny who had called her only a day ago, begging her to come over.

The-Sonny-Leaving incident had ruined almost all of her close relationships she had, Grady and Nico were so distraught, that they were no longer best friends, they talked occasionally, but they weren't as close as they were eight years ago. Zora had quit _So Random! _and pursued her own comedy show, that was still going on. One of the most important things that Tawni lost, was one of the best boyfriends she had ever had. Nico. That's right, Nico was her boyfriend back then, and that fell apart soon after Tawni started taking care of Chad. Nico said that it was Chad's fault Sonny left, and she shouldn't be helping a traitor like him, that this hurt thing he's going through, is just a act. Furious, Tawni tried to prove him wrong, but it only ended up in Nico thinking that she was cheating on him with Chad . . . and . . . well, it ended with the worst break up of her life.

Tawni had to admit, she was excited to see Chad again, after almost three years. Three years ago, Chad had announced to her that he was going to move away, to be alone, and figure out his life. Before that, Chad had been living with Tawni, in her mansion, suffering from horrible dreams, and the occasional night terror. Once he moved out, he usually called once a week to check up on Tawni, and how things were going. But since he's moved to Scarlet Springs, it was more like once a month, sometimes once every two months.

"Miss Hart, the plane is about to land." came a voice over the intercom.

Tawni sat up and took her purse, buckling herself in. She was almost there.

* * *

Tawni pushed through the crowd of people surrounding Charlotte's Diner, there were cameras, interviewers, they all screamed when they saw her, running towards her, with cameras sticking in her face.

"Tawni Hart, can we ask you a few questions about Sonny?"

"No." Tawni snapped.

They continued anyway, not letting her past.

"If I answer a few questions for you, will you let me through?" Tawni asks them with a sigh.

They all nod.

"Fine."

Then the questions started flying:

"Did you know that Sonny was living here all this time?"

"No."

"Is it true that Chad Dylan Cooper is currently residing in this small Connecticut town?"

"Yes."

"Is it true they had a love affair?"

Tawni looked around at all the people, "No." she said, "nothing like that happened."

"Did _Chad _know that Sonny was living in this town?"

Tawni sighed, "No."

All the papparazzi looked around at each other.

"Am I done now?" Tawni asked with a sigh.

Then Sonny came bursting through the door, grabbing a hold of Tawni's arms and pulling her into the diner, despite all the people screaming with questions. Sonny pulled her up the stairs into her apartment, before collapsing in a giant hug.

"Tawni!" she cried, "Oh my god, I missed you so much!"

Tawni hugged Sonny so tight, "You're so . . . different." she whispered.

They let go of each other and Tawni touched Sonny's hair, "So different." She whispered.

Sonny smiled weakly, "The paparazzi won't go away, they've been outside my house for days, I'm not opening the diner anymore. They're not bugging Chad, because they don't know where his house is, which surprises me, that no one in town has told them. . . . But, I just don't know what to do!"

"You want me to talk to him?" Tawni asked.

"Yes, but . . . try not to make it know that I sent you there . . . that might make him even more mad. I just want to . . . fix things, even if he doesn't want me anymore, that's fine, I just don't want him to hate me." Sonny said.

"I'll go right now. Where's his house?" Tawni said.

"Here," Sonny said, giving her a piece of paper with Chad's address on it, "Take the back door so no one can see you, and run."

"I'm wearing heels."

"Walk as fast as you can!" Sonny corrected her self.

So Tawni ran.

* * *

Boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. I was almost overwhelmed with all the boxes I had. I had all my furniture packed away, except for my couch, but my TV was gone, and most of my clothes were packed. I hoped I could be out of here by the end of the week. I'm still looking for a condo in Hollywood, but I'll be out of here soon.

I walked into my room and froze, there was only one thing on the floor. It was the picture of me and Sonny . . . or me and _Charlotte_, the one she gave me for Christmas. Rage filled me and I picked it up and threw it at the wall, I loved hearing it shatter on the impact. It made me smile. Then I walked over to the broken frame and ripped the picture out, tearing it into small pieces, and dropping it onto the floor.

There was a knock on the door and I walked shakily over to it. I opened it and almost fell over with shock.

"T-Tawni?"

* * *

**Authors Note  
**Hey there duuuddes :)

So, here's TAWNI :) the next chapter will basically be Tawni and Chad's conversation, so some Chawni friendship there.

As I probably hinted, I'm shipped Tawnico. Well, that's true . . . ish, I'm not against the couple, but it's not my favourite, and I can truthfully never see it happening in SWAC, but I'll ship it, and side ship it in fanfics. (A name I made up saying along with the main Ship - Channy - I'll hint it here and there.)

So, once again, I'd like to thank you ALL for the kind reviews and such, showing your freaky obsession with this fanfiction. :)

Love,  
Emma


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Spring May

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Fifteteen

**Spring  
****May**

_"T-Tawni?"_

"Hey Chad." Tawni said to me, smiling widely. She hadn't changed at all. Well, that's not true, she looked, basically the same, her long blonde hair hanging by her waist, it was parted in the middle, and almost poker straight, yet with a few waves here and there.

"Do you . . . uh, want to come in?" I asked stepping aside.

She stepped in and looked around my house, "So . . . you're moving?" she asked.

"Oh . . . yeah." I said, "I . . . yeah I'm moving. . . . Do you, uh, want to sit down?" I asked, motioning towards my couch.

Tawni nodded and sat down, straightening out her skirt.

"So, h-how did you get my address?" I asked.

She hesitated for a second, "People around the town told me."

"That's not true." I whispered, "_She _told you to come here, didn't she?"

Tawni sighed, "Yes, she did."

"She wants me to forgive her, she wants me to come running back to her, doesn't she?" I said, my teeth clenched.

"Not exactly," Tawni said, "Yes she does want you to forgive her, but she says she you don't have to be friends with her anymore, she just doesn't want you to hate her."

I scoffed "Doesn't she understand, that I am incapable of hating her? That's something that makes me so mad! I think I hate her, but I know I don't . . . I know I love her, but I can't go back. She's torturing me, Tawni!"

Tawni's eyes softened at me, I hadn't seen her in a while.

"Chad, come here," she said, bringing me into a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her, and put my head into her shoulder. This position, I was often in when I was younger, and living with her. Tawni would hold me in this position almost once a night. Sometimes I would be sobbing, sometimes my eyes were dry, and I just needed someone to hold me. I always felt safe in this position, with Tawni, I always felt safe.

"I missed you," Tawni says to me, pulling away, her hand still on my shoulder.

I smiled, "I missed you too, a lot."

"I know she's hurting you, but you have to talk to her." Tawni then said, her eyes begging me to.

"I can't even look at her Tawni," I whisper, "How am I supposed to _talk _to her?"

"That's for you to figure out." Tawni said.

"I can't figure it out though!" I yelled, "I-I just can't, I need someone to help me!"

Tawni sighed, "No one can help you with this, Chad. You're a twenty-six-year-old man, you need to figure this out on your own."

There was silence for a few minutes. Silence that I thought through. If I talked to Sonny, then everything could be fixed. Maybe. Though I picture myself yelling and screaming, and crying in front of her. Tawni could be right though, this needs to be fixed, and I have to be the one to do it.

"How do I know she's not going to do it again?" I whispered.

"Do what?" Tawni asked.

"Leave, tell me she doesn't love me, disappear." I explained.

Tawni smiled, "You don't," she said, "and that's the magic. That _is _love, Chad. The way you don't know what the persons going to do next, they could hurt you, or, they could love you, and surprise you. They'll do something you're not expecting. You have to trust in love, or it'll back-fire on you almost immediately, trust it, and you'll be fine, that's what love is."

* * *

Nico Harris sat in his gigantic living room, with this _huge _flat screen TV. He was flipping through the various channels, when the news section caught his attention.

"_ALISON MUNROE, FOUND IN SMALL CONNECTICUT TOWN."_

He couldn't believe it. Sonny? Could it be? But the word _found _scared him a little, found could mean various things, found, as in they found her body, something that could have been rotting in a whole for eight years, or found, as in she's alive and well, ready to come back to Hollywood.

"_Alison Munroe, mostly known as Sonny Munroe, mysteriously disappeared eight years ago, sources told us, she was alive and well, but decided to be hidden. No one knew where she was._

"_Now, we do. Miss Munroe had changed her identity, died her hair, and started a new life, down here in the small town of Scarlet Springs, Connecticut. Chad Dylan Cooper – her ex-boyfriend – moved here, on complete accident, finding Sonny, and her secret._

"_I am currently standing outside of the small diner that Miss Munroe opened_ _six years ago. It was a huge money maker for Miss Munroe, and it was hugely popular here in Scarlet Springs. The townsfolk say that Mr. Cooper went int there everyday._

"_We caught up with Miss Tawni Hart, while she was on her way into the diner, to see Miss Munroe. We asked her a few questions, before Miss Munroe, pulled her quickly inside."_

Nico froze, Tawni, he hadn't spoken to Tawni since _So Random! _was canceled. He found himself excited to see Tawni on the screen, and hear her voice.

Then, Tawni appeared looking as ravishing as ever. Her blonde hair, longer than he remembered, and still wearing the designer clothes.

"_Did you know that Sonny was living here all this time?" _One reporter asked.

"_No." _Tawni answered, looking obviously annoyed, as if she didn't really want to be answering these questions.

"_Is it true that Chad Dylan Cooper is currently residing in this small Connecticut town?"_

"_Yes." _

Nico felt blood boil up inside him. Chad Dylan Cooper was near Sonny again.

"_Is it true they had a love affair?"_

"_No, nothing like that happened."_

"_Did Chad know that Sonny was living in this town?"_

Tawni let out a sigh,_ "No."_

Then, a girl with red hair appeared on the screen, dragging Tawni in, avoiding all the cries of "Sonny, Sonny over here!" "Sonny, can we ask you a few questions?" and so on, and so forth, but the girl disappeared into the diner once again.

That's when Nico realized, that girl he just saw on screen, was Sonny, one of his best friends.

The newscaster said it was Scarlet Springs where Sonny was living now. Nico could easily drive there.

Nico found his phone, and picked it up, searching through all of his contacts until he found the one he was looking for.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Grady? Start packing, we're heading towards Connecticut."

* * *

**Authors Note  
**Sorry that this chapter is a little short, I really didn't have much to fit in.

So, if you haven't figured it out already - and if you hadn't, that REALLY surprises me - Nico, Grady and Zora will be making an appearance in the next chapter.

I originally had them in the very, very end, to say hello to Sonny, but now that I've started this little Tawnico side ship, I decided to bring them in earlier.

Truthfully, I think there are only about . . . two or three chapters left of Behind the Veil. :(

The next chapter there will be no Chad's POV, just third person with Tawni, Nico, Sonny, Grady and Zora, and then in the next chapter . . . I'll give you a hint: Chan with an ee. :)

Love,  
Emma

**P.S.: I posted a Chawni friendship oneshot, that is linked with this story, it's called Being Here, so if you checked that out, that would be great too. :)  
Thanks.**


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Spring End of May

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

**Spring  
****End of May**

Tawni sneaked into Sonny's apartment, so the cameras wouldn't get her again. Sonny was sitting on the couch, waiting impatiently. She jumped up once she saw Tawni.

"What did he say?" she asked, "Does he hate me?"

Tawni laughed and slipped her shoes off, placing them by the door.

"Tawni!" cried Sonny.

"Okay, okay!" Tawni laughed, "No, he doesn't hate you."

Sonny breathed a breath of relief, "Is he . . . going to forgive me?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't say, he just seemed to be in his own little world." Tawni explained.

Sonny shifted her feet, she didn't know what to say next.

"I'm tired, Sonny, I'm going to get ready for bed," Tawni said, "Where am I sleeping, by the way?"

"In my bed, I'll take the couch." Sonny said, going into the closet and grabbing a blanket and a pillow for herself.

Tawni grabbed her pink leopard print nightgown and changed into it, crawling into Sonny's bed, and pulling her sleeping mask over her eyes. She was happy she was with Sonny after all these years. Though it was different than she'd imagined it, she pictured some sort of running through the fields to each other – but that just could be her actress mind running within her. Nevertheless, she didn't expect her meeting Sonny again to be fixing her problem.

"Hey, Tawn?" Sonny called.

Tawni pulled her sleeping mask off, her eyes, resting it on top of her forehead, she sat up and stared at Sonny.

"What exactly . . . happened, once I left?" She asked in a whisper.

Tawni slipped out of the bed; and sat next to Sonny on the couch.

"It was horrible," Tawni started, "The next day, I got your email, that long, long email you sent me, and . . . it hurt me, I didn't understand it, and . . . I was confused.

"I went to the studio, and Chad wasn't there yet – I wanted to scream at him . . . everyone already thought it was his fault you left. So I decided to go the Prop House to see if Nico was there. Sure enough he was, just finishing reading the email you sent him. He turned, and looked at me . . . he was confused too, we didn't understand why. Though he was furious. 'I knew Chad would ruin her,' he whispered to me. 'I knew he would break her heart.' I could only hug him at the time, because I was so confused.

"The next person to come in was Grady, he looked as if he was about to cry. You had written him an email too, and he had printed it off, he walked into the room, holding it high over his head. He turned to me and said, 'Is it true? Is she _really _gone?' I could only answer him with an 'I don't know.' he blamed Chad too, he said that he had to go beat him up, really bad. You were like . . . a little sister to Nico and Grady, they had to protect you, and that's what Grady was doing, protecting you. Though, I believe he felt like he was too late."

Tears had started falling down Sonny's cheeks, "W-what about Zora?"

Tawni sighed, "Zora was the worst, of all of us. She ran into the Prop House crying. Zora was _crying_, Zora never cries. You had written her a letter, since she didn't have an email. Remember, she said they were 'too high tech' for her?"

Sonny laughed at the memory.

"She held the letter in her hands, she was looking down at it, as if it was one of her pets, and it had died. She didn't say anything, she just looked up at all of us, and cried. She . . . she was sobbing, shaking. I knelt down next to her, and held her tight.

" After a while, Grady carried her to dressing room, Nico went to talk to Marshall, to see if he knew, and I went to my dressing room – correction, _our _dressing room. Everything you had brought in over the past two years was gone, it suddenly felt empty.

"That's when Chad came in. He was disheveled looking, his hair was a mess, and he was still wearing dress pants and a mans dress shirt, – Chad later told me it was the outfit he wore on your date – he looked at me, and I glared at him, 'Do you know where Sonny is?' he asked me. I told him I did – though I didn't – but I told him I wouldn't tell him, I was mad Sonny. Very mad. He tried to talk to me, but I wouldn't listen. 'She wanted to say friends, Chad! It's not like she didn't want you in her life anymore!' I told him, 'We were _right_! You are _scum, _we should have _never ever_, let you in!' That's when he told me that you weren't coming back. That you were _never _coming back.

"Then I looked at him, his outfit what he was wearing. He missed you already, I could tell. That's when I realized, he was hurting too, and it wasn't his fault, and I felt guilty. Yes, _I _felt guilty. He continued to tell me he went back to your apartment, but it was empty, you had already left. I told him you said hi, in the email you sent me. He smiled. I don't think I ever saw him smile again."

Sonny couldn't believe it. What had she done? She hadn't ruined just her life, she had ruined about five others. She was a monster.

There was a knock on the door, Sonny wiped her eyes at looked at it. Could it be Chad?

"I'll get it," Tawni said standing up. She opened the door, her eyes almost bulging out of who she saw.

"Is it true?" Nico gasped.

Beside Nico was Grady, and Zora.

Tawni stared at the three of them wide eyed, "H-how? –"

"The news," Grady explained, "You were on the news, Sonny was on the news."

Sonny stood up from the couch, "Grady?" she called.

The three set eyes on her, their eyes wide. Sonny smiled meekly at them and tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

Nico wasn't that different than the she remembered, he was still very thin and very tall, he still had a shaven head, but he had a bit of stubble on his chin and upper lip. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a green v-neck t-shirt and a pair of running shoes.

Grady had thinned out of the years, but only slightly, he was still a little pudgy here and there, his hair was hanging just below his ears and was parted at the side. He was wearing a pair of black track pants and a white t-shirt with a red sweater over top.

Zora, was the one who looked the most different. Her brown hair had a multitude of coloured steaks, pink, blue, red, green, purple, yellow, it was pulled into a bundle of little ponytails hanging below her ears. She was wearing a pair of yellow skinny jeans and a blue tank top over top of a purple one, she had a small black cardigan over the tank tops. She stood, almost glaring at Sonny, until, she actually looked at her, and her eyes softened. Tears threatening.

Zora ran into Sonny's arms and attacked her with a hug, sobs bursting from her chest, she held tight onto her. Tears of joy filling through the air.

Sonny smiled and hugged Zora tight.

"I-I mi-issed you s-s-so much!" Zora sobbed.

"Shh, I know, I'm so, so sorry, Zora. I am _so _sorry!" Sonny cried, she then glanced at Grady and Nico, "Come on guys," she called to them, "I missed you too!"

Grady and Nico ran up and wrapped their arms Sonny, laughing for joy.

"I can't believe this!" Grady whispered, "It's really you."

The four released each other, Zora clinging onto Sonny's arm.

"C'mon, sit down." she said, pushing the blankets off the couch.

The three sat down, Tawni pulled over a chair. The three sat in awkward silence, they hadn't all been in the same room for a long, long time.

"How did you guys find me?" Sonny asked, finally breaking the silence.

"The news, Sonny, you're the _only _thing people are talking about." Nico explained.

Sonny snorted, "I know."

"Nico saw Tawni on the news, and he immediately called me. I . . . I could hardly believe it," Grady said, "No offense, Sonny, but I thought you were dead."

Sonny ran a hand through her hair, "I don't blame you, I just kinda . . . disappeared."

"If Chad hadn't dumped you, none of this would have happened." Nico mumbled under his breath.

Tawni groaned, "Nico! Are you _seriously _starting this again?" she cried.

"Yes, I am!" Nico cried, "It was his fault Sonny left, I can't believe he's living in this town. I should go beat him up or something."

"It's NOT Chad's fault!" Sonny screamed, causing the four of them to jump and look at her.

"W-what?" Zora whispered, "But it has to be, you two were completely in love, and the next thing we knew you were gone."

"I messed it up, okay? I told Chad I didn't love him, and he got mad at me, that's why he was mad. The depressed Chad was _real_, and _I _made him. I'm to blame here, I left because I wanted to!"

"Why Sonny?" Grady asked.

"I don't know, I just missed Wisconsin, and I wanted to go back, then I realized I couldn't, and I ended up here." Sonny said, "Or, at least that's the short version."

There was another strange silence, a few sounds of people shifting in their seats.

"I feel like such a . . . a douche." Grady whispered.

"Why?" Sonny questioned.

"I punched Chad." Grady said.

"You _what_?" Sonny shrieked, "When?"

"Like, two weeks after you left. I still didn't believe Tawni when she told me it wasn't Chad's fault, I was just . . . so mad, so I stormed into his dressing room and punched him, right in the face, then stormed out."

"He had a black eye for a month." Nico murmured, "I can't believe I ruined the best relationship I had about him." he said moment later.

Tawni blushed and let her hair fall into her face.

Grady coughed awkwardly.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" Sonny asked.

"I've been making movies here and there," Nico said, "Just small parts though, nothing major. Doing stand-up-comedy here and there. . . . Y'know, small things."

Sonny nodded and looked at Grady.

"Me? Oh, well I've been working on a book." Grady said.

"A book?" Tawni questioned, "Like, you're _reading _a book?"

"No, I'm _writing _a book. – Well, it's not really a 'book' it's a comic book." Grady said.

"Really?" Sonny said, surprised, "Grady, that's so cool! I didn't know you could write."

Grady shrugged, "The main characters based off of you, Sonny." he said.

"I've been working on my own comedy show, _Zora's Zokes_," Zora said, "It's mostly me, but I have co-workers and such."

"That's cool, Zora." Sonny said with a smile.

"_Zora's Zokes _is even more popular than _So Random! _was. . . . Though I liked _So Random! _better."

Sonny looked around at her ex-co-stars. She smiled. She had missed them, and they had suffered for years missing her. Poor Zora lost the only friend-like-sister she ever had. Grady and Nico had also lost a little sister, Tawni and Nico had lost their romance, and Tawni in general, she was taking care of Chad. All the time. Like a mother, Tawni wasn't a mother, she was a eighteen-year-old girl, at the time.

Finally, there is the one she hurt the most; Chad. He had suffered in pain for eight years. Then, he met "Charlotte" and he thought everything would go back to normal, he would get his life back, he would get a new girlfriend, and he wouldn't be hurting anymore. Then, Charlotte was Sonny, and everything was ruined for him. Sonny had hurt him two times, and she couldn't risk hurting him again. She wouldn't blame Chad if he never walked through those doors to see her.

* * *

**Authors Note:  
**YAAYZ.

I hoped you liked the little _So Random! _cast reunion. Zora's one of my favourite characters in the show, it SUCKS that she isn't in it more, especially in the new season. Zora's only been in like, three of the, like, fifteen episodes that have aired.

So, the next chapter is going to be the SECOND LAST CHAPTER. :O **:( **:'( **D: **Those are the smily faces of GASP, SAD FACE, TEAR, and OH MEH GEE.

Love,  
Emma

P.S: C'mon guys, I'm ALMOST at 300 reviews! REVIEW, LET'S MAKE 300 :D


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Spring June

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

Chapter Seventeen

**Spring  
****Beginning of June**

Sonny, Nico, Grady, Zora and Tawni all sat at Sonny's dining room table. They each had a cup of coffee in their hands – well, everyone except for Zora, who had a cup of herbal tea.

"So, you talked to Chad?" Nico questioned Tawni.

"Yes, I did." Tawni said with a sigh.

"And you talked about . . . Chad?" Grady asked.

"And Sonny, yes." Tawni said, "I thought we already covered this." she added.

"We did," Zora groaned, "I remember, but these pea-brains have the memory of a goldfish."

"Hey!" Gradyand Nico cried.

Sonny smiled, some things never change.

The five were trying to decide if Chad was really going to come or not, of course, Sonny wanted him to, she _really _wanted him too. But there was a part of her that was afraid of him coming. What would he say? What would happen?

Nico sighed, "I have to talk to him."

The four stared at him wide eyed, in disbelief.

"Nico, Chad hates you," Tawni said, "I remember, he always told me. He won't listen."

"I have to try. I also have to apologize,"Nico said, "I was a total jerk to him, shoving him in the halls. We had an argument once."

"An argument?" Sonny said, "What about?"

"Well . . . it was about a month after you left, and, he was in the Prop House with Tawni, Tawni was holding him, –"

"–Oh I remember this . . . ." Tawni mused.

"– he wasn't crying, but it looked like he could if he wanted to. I glared at him, and said, 'What are you doing here, Cooper?' he turned around, and looked at me, he stood up fast, 'I'm sorry.' he said, then he tried to get out. – You see, the day after you left, he banned him from the Prop House, saying he wasn't allowed to step foot inside our studio at all.

"I was really upset, and angry with him at the time – I always have been, but it was more rage back then – I turned around, before hecould leave I shouted, 'Stop with the fake-broken heart Chad, you're not fooling anyone but Tawni!'

"So, that ended with a full fledged fight with Chad, and then Tawni backing him up." Nico finished.

Tawni sighed, "That was the day we broke up." she whispered, "Or, the day you dumped me."

Nico glanced at his hands. It was suddenly very quiet between the five friends.

"So . . . I'm going to talk to him," Nico said, "I need to."

"Are you sure?" Sonny asked.

Nico sighed, "Yes."

LINE

Nico knocked on Chad's door, patiently waiting. There were a few minutes of silence before Chad opened the door, saw who it was, then slammed it shut again.

Nico sighed, "C'mon Chad!" he cried, "Open the door!"

He heard a muffled, _"No!" _from behind the door.

Nico grabbed the handel, surprised to find that the door was open, he walked in.

"I knew I should've locked that. . . ." he heard Chad mumble.

There was an awkward silence as the two stood and stared at each other.

"So what are you doing here?" Chad asked, "Coming to give me another punch? – Oh, right, that was Grady, where is he anyway? Waiting in a bush?"

"I'm not here to hurt you Chad." Nico said.

"Yeah you're right, you've enough of that already."

"I'm actually here to apologize." Nico explained.

Chad clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, "Well, apology not accepted."

"You didn't even hear my apology!" Nico cried.

"I don't _need _to." Chad snapped back, "You don't _deserve_ my forgiveness."

"I know I was a jerk to you!" Nico yelled, but he then settled himself, "I know I was, and I . . . I know now that it was wrong, I was young, and hurt–"

"_You _were hurt?" Chad yelled, "I was shattered! You and Grady didn't help that much either! She was my _girlfriend_, I seriously thought we were going to get _married _one day! Do you _know _what she told me the night she left? Do you!"

Nico was silent.

"She told me, she didn't love me," Chad hissed, "How's that for being hurt?"

_Okay, maybe "young and hurt" weren't the right words,_ Nico thought.

"I was young and confused," Nico corrected himself, "You can't really blame me, can you? From your passed experiences with girlfriends, you always dumped them, and left them to rot somewhere, crying. Sonny didn't tell me why she left, she just said that you knew, and you guys had broke up. She didn't tell who did the breaking. So I let my mind roll, and I did some bad things. I lost Tawni over this, I was broken too, we _all _were."

"You could've let me explain, you could've let me speak, but instead, you shut me up, with your fists." Chad whispered, "I'm not forgiving you. It's not my fault that you Tawni broke up, and from what _I _remember, _you _were the one who dumped her. Not the other way around."

Nico sighed, "Sonny wants you," he said, "She hasn't said it out loud, but I knowshe does, just by the look on her face when I say you're name. So . . . fine, you don't have to forgive me. I just want to know, are you coming to see her, or not?"

"Well, I don't know, there's about four people I don't really want in the room when I talk to her." Chad said, with a roll to his eye.

"What about this . . . you don't have to forgive me, but to make it up to you anyway, I'll make sure Tawni, Grady, Zora and I are all out of the house when you come. Okay?"

Chad's eyes softened at Nico, then he glanced down at his shoes, "I . . ."

"Just give me a time and date." Nico said, "I'll make sure we're out of there."

"Tomorrow . . . three o'clock."

LINE

Sonny sat and gaped at Nico.

"S-seriously? He's coming _here_?" she asked.

Nico nodded, "Yep, three o'clock."

Sonny couldn't believe it, truthfully, she had pictured two three different ways of what was going to happen. The first one was that Chad never came, he was just too mad at her to be with her ever again, and he packed up his things and moved away, never staying it touch with Sonny ever. Then a couple years later, they would meet up, and Chad would still completely hate her, he would have a gorgeous, skinny, blonde girl attached to his arm, and he would be completely over her.

The second one was that he came, but he didn't want her anymore. He just wanted to be away from her forever, so he could finally move on, and be on his own. They would stay in touch, but only hardly. They would meet up every once in a while, but he would never want her again, and she would be tortured with his pain forever.

The third one . . . was the one she wanted to happen the most. That was the one where Chad comes, and they're together, forever. It was as simple as that, he just comes, and they talk, and everything's okay.

Sonny found herself smiling at the last one, she looked up at her ex-cast mates, they were smiling back at her.

"How excited are you?" Zora whispered.

"I love him." was Sonny's answer.

LINE

Nico walked around the town of Scarlet Springs with Tawni beside him, Grady and Zora had ran away, because they found a book store they wanted to check out, so it was just the two of them. It was about two-thirty, and Chad would be coming anytime to Sonny's apartment.

Tawni ran a hand through her hair, then quickly put it up in a messy bun, it was getting hot outside. And the awkwardness of the situation she was in wasn't helping. She hadn't been alone with Nico in years.

"So . . . it's hot." Tawni said, fanning herself with her hand.

"Yeah, it is," Nico answered.

They two stared at the floor, they both felt the awkward in the air. It was like a huge fog was casting over them.

"Listen–" Nico started.

"–I'm sorry." they both said.

Nico sighed, "You first."

"I didn't listen to you," Tawni said, "I know that I _should've _listened to you better, but . . . I had to help my friend, and I lost you out of it, but . . . I'm fine. I think. I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you, and I'm sorry that I messed it up."

"You didn't mess it up!" Nico cried, "I did! I was the one who wasn't listening, I should've just believed you, and let my mind run. I'm sorry, I messed it up."

Tawni sighed and sat down on a bench, "We both messed it up."

Nico sat next to her, "It was a . . . tough situation. We didn't know how to handle it, we were just kids."

Tawni looked sadly at Nico, "I missed you," she said, "If that even means anything now."

"It means _everything_ now," Nico told her, "Because maybe . . . we could . . . start over?"

Tawni's heart thudded in her chest, "Really?"

"Yeah . . . I mean, Sonny's back, Chad's back, it's obvious they're going to be back together again, why not start new? Start fresh, just me and you."

Tawni wrapped her arms around Nico and gave him a tight hug, "I'd like that alot."

LINE

I burst into Sonny's apartment, she sat there, sitting quietly for me.

She stands up and looks at me, opening her mouth to say something, but I shushed her.

"No, no, no . . . don't talk, it's my turn. Please just . . . don't say anything."

She nods at me, and I start.

"So, you were right – or 'Charlotte' was right – I build walls, barriers almost, and I don't let anyone in. I shut myself out. At first, I didn't understand _why _I did this, but I know now. . . . It'sbecause I didn't want a repeat, I didn't want to get close to someone, because I was afraid they'd leave. And I'd be alone.

"I could trust Sonny with everything, I trusted her. I could divulge my inner-most-secrets to her, and I knew those secrets would be safe, because they were with Sonny. And vice-versa, I kept her secrets safe too. And she trusted me.

"When you – Sonny – left, I felt broken . . . torn, and everything I told Sonny broke off of her, on the ground, for everyone to see. I was alone when Sonny left . . . and I had nobody. So I shut everything out.

"Then I met Charlotte, and she helped me come out – not a lot . . . but I came out. Suddenly, I didn't feel all that alone anymore. Sure that aching feeling in my heart was always there, but it was less severe, and I thought I could _actually _be getting over you, not completely, but I was. So I let Charlotte in, I let her come through the wall. But then . . . she did exactly what I feared, she ripped me down, she tore me apart. And I rebuilt the wall.

"I've never stopped loving Sonny . . . y-you. No matter how mad I was at you, I always love you. I was so mad I couldn't look at you without wanting to burst into tears, yet, I still love you. You ripped me apart into millions of little pieces, which I still can't put together, yet I still love you.

"You'velost your trust. You've gained it, and lost it, then gained it again, only to loose it. But, I'm letting you back in," I raised my arms shakily, as if I was afraid of something, "I-I'm letting you back through the wall, so you better not fuck it up this time."

Sonny looked at me, with those eyes of hers, they were soft, and loving, and then she smiled.

"Chad . . . I–"

"– I gotta go." I interrupted her.

"What?" she looked at me with a confused face.

Sonny sighed, "First . . . come here."

She placed her hands on the sides of my face, and brought me close, giving me a soft kiss, full of meaning. I knew what it said, it told me she was sorry, that she loved me, and that she _really _never stopped loving me, and that she wants to fix things, and make them all better. So I kissed her back, letting her know, that I wanted her too, but I was afraid. Afraid of what would happen in the future. But what Tawni said rang in my ears. _You have to trust in love. _

We parted, and Sonny rested her forehead on mine, "Are you sure you want to go?" she asked with a smirk.

"Yes," I said, "I have to go home, I have to put pictures on my walls."

She looked at me with confusion, she didn't understand. Of course she didn't, all I did was smile at her, a sincere smile, a _real _smile.

"You'll understand in time." I told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and then leaving through the door.

* * *

*Sniff, sniff*

**Authors Note  
**So . . . this is basically the last chapter, I have a epilogue I'm going to write and then . . . it's DONE. All I can say is . . . THANK YOU, thank you guys SO much, I've gotten 300 reviews on this story, and it's my first SWAC EVER! :D

Just . . . thank you. :)


	19. Epilogue

**Behind the Veil  
****a fanfiction by Emma**

* * *

**Epilogue **

_Four years later . . ._

Dishes clinked on the surface of the table tops, and the cutlery clacked on the plates, sckritching and scratching on the plates every so often.

The diner was as busy as ever, maybe even buisier, I mean, who _wouldn't _want to come to a diner owned by Chad and Sonny Cooper?

Yes, you heard me, _Chad and Sonny Cooper_. They got married. Three years ago, after they had been re-dating for a year.

"Zora! Come clean off this table please!" Sonny called across the room.

I scurried over to the table, and started clearing off the dishes.

Yep, it's me, Zora Lancaster, I've been living with Sonny ever since I came here when I was twenty one, now I'm twenty five, and working and living up above Charlotte's Diner. Sonny moved into a house with Chad that's just across the street from the diner.

I walked into the back and put them by the dishwasher, who groaned at the sight of them, and continued to wash the dishes.

"Hey, Sonny, we should add another sink," I suggest to her.

Sonny sighed, "Why? Kreg's doing fine in the back!"

"No I'm not!" Kreg whined.

I heard Chad snicker beside me, Sonny whacked him upside the head.

"OW!" Chad cried.

"Don't be mean!" Sonny scolded him.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"So we're good?"

"Oh, we're _so_ good." Sonny smiled.

Chad smirked and went back to taking orders.

"You two are so cute, it's sickening." I mumble to Sonny.

Sonny laughed, "I know."

I laughed and continued to clean up tables, and pour people coffee.

"Hey, check this out!" Sonny cried to Chad and I.

I skipped over, and Chad looked up from where he was.

"It's an invitation," Sonny told us.

"To what?" Chad called over his shoulder.

"Oh my god!" I cried.

Sonny laughed with delight, "Tawni and Nico are getting married."

"Sweet, she's gonna be Mrs. Tawni Harris," Chad said.

"Aha, that's funny," Sonny laughed, "Trust me, she's going to be keeping her maiden name.

I looked around at everything around me. This is how it was meant to be, and everything worked out perfectly.

* * *

**She was mine. I remembered that clear enough. We were completely in love, and I thought nothing could ever tear us apart. I guess I was wrong. Completely wrong.**

**I wished so hard I could take back what I said to her, I loved her. And she flicked me away like one of those pieces of lint****on her sweater.**

**My heart was breaking . . . shattered everywhere. No one could clean it up. It was impossible.**

**Or so I thought . . . .**

**I just had to come out from **_**behind my veil.**_

* * *

The End

* * *

**Authors Last Note :(  
**Hey . . . so . . . here is all the reviewers and me saying THANNK YOOUUU.

**bold is actual members **regular is anonymous

**kaybeesknees, **Carmel**, NiraliSkye, Cutie4Evur, love-cdc, angelina100, **Mclovingit**, MythScavenger, luckyme123, HeCalledHerCass(SAARAAH :D), SonnyChadFan, GirlFromVenus123, xXSunnySonnyFanXx, frayahhh, **holly**, **jenna**, ChAnNyObSeSsEd, myjumpingsocks, hannahpie45, lil'miss sunshine, **arlene**, monkey87, MayaPapaya27, RaNdOm GiRl 2014, , candymanlover11, chocolate fish, **LOL_ (oh how I love my reviewers :D) _**Gabbie Wabbie, mydaydream, Girltech101, VeVe2491, ameliaad, kayalex, **crzygurl396**, HeyIt'sME2610, sk8ergrl700, ChadluvsSonshine, Joker236, ilovesonnywithachancebcn, ..Angel, **Katie_**, **_**TeddyLuver, **Sara**, Marcholo101, hartful13, maximumpotter101, znk99fg, lalagirl97, CleveSportsFanatic, Thatsmyphrase, WizardsANDSonnyLUV, BunnyandChanylove, Imabookworm568, MirandaKP, **Jessie H**, .record, CyrstalBlueRBY, channyroxhard, stars1029, One-Crazy-Ninja-Chick, bhltt, **TR**, DisneyRocksChanny, **Sarah**, CrAzYOnlYWoRks4Me, **maddie**, EmmKaylikesMusic, purple dynamite, Hiilani, **channyfanx10**, xxFrostedTeardropxx, Bloomerica, gAnGsTa GaBbY lOvEs JoKeR, xFrozenHearx, cocosunshine23, Tokiooo, CAEH1995, Karlita Jones**, FALLING FOR THE FALLS NXT WEEK**, blankwrite, **drama llama lover x**, SceneSceneJellyBean, **youdon'twannaknow**, mrpuppy, MakeMeCrazier, Music-Luvr4296, Sabinnna, **Sophieee**, SonnyButterflyxx1, Seddielovergrl,**

Okay, holy crap. I'm now SO tired, it's 10:55 and about 40 min. ago my mom told me I had 5 min. left. haha . . . REBEL! :P

So, just thank all you guys, I do have another Channy story coming up soon, I just don't know when yet, just keep your eyes PEELED. Well, no, that would hurt, just PAY ATTENTION.

Love all you guys,  
Emma


	20. Authors Notice: Please read guys!

Hey guys! Remember me? You freakin' loved my story? XD

Well, as I said, I was going to have a new SWAC story up soon, and I know it's been about two months, but that's because I've been planning it and such.

So if any of you guys pay attention to my profile, you might of noticed that there's a new story called "Have My Heart", and it IS the new SWAC/Channy story.

I can't tell you much about it, because it would give away some stuff, BUT I made a sort of trailer for it on WMM (so it sucks) but here it is anyway.  
** www . youtube . com /watch?v=keyQtzlS0I8 **

So, all I can tell you about "Have My Heart" is that it's a sort of Sonny heartbreak this time, but not so insane like Chad's heartbreak was. It's serious, like most of my newest stories, and it could probably be a little M-rated, but not so much. It's more in the middle of T and M. XD

But here's the summary:  
**Y-you had my heart Chad," Sonny said, "and that's what you took with you, when you walked into that bedroom. "Sonny, please!" Chad cried. Tears falling from his eyes now. "No . . . I'm done. We're done." **

Two more things, the first thing is, that instead of 1st person, it will be in 2nd person, like the last few chapters of BTV.

The last thing, is that the first chapter will be posted on August 1st. Which is in about three days. So, I hope I'll recongize a bunch of BTV reviewers, and even get some new ones.

Thanks guys, see you soon.

**Emma  
EBWHW**


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